Spanish born Moroccan Hakimi sinks Spain in FIFA World Cup shootout
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Hakimi celebrating victory over Spain
A thousand penalties in practice could not help Spain attain perfection. On Tuesday night, at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Luis Enrique’s side bombed at the box office as they lost to Morocco in the shootout of the FIFA World Cup. This was massive history made by Morocco, the first North African nation to enter the quarter-finals of football’s blue riband event. What rubbed salt into the wounds of the losers was the man who scripted history, Achraf Hakimi, who was born in Spain. He is one of the best right-backs and plays club football for Paris St-Germain. What matters now is he is the hero of Morocco!
Shock, disbelief, anger, and a gamut of emotions swept Spain, a side with rich football history and known for their strong defensive mechanism at play. All that was of zilch against Moroccans, sturdy in build and hardy in approach as they emerged heroes. To say that Spain paid the penalty for not playing positive, aggressive football would be stating the obvious. 120 minutes of action, where ear drums were bursting and heart rates were jumping defined the Round of 16 high voltage clash.
That, in the end, it would boil down to shooting the Adidas ball from 12 yards into the goal was all that mattered. They say practice makes you perfect. No way, Spain bungled big time and fans are cursing the Tiki Taka guys for letting down a nation steeped in football history. Social media and their newspaper have ripped apart Spain, as the great dream came crashed like a house of cards.
Sample this, Spain has a rocking, rich league, which feeds so many professional football players. Who would have thought they would muff chances and blow it in penalties? Pressure? Hype? The burden of expectation? Perhaps, it was a culmination of factors that saw the Moroccans come out firing in the shoot-out, something which is razor sharp, fast, and furious. To be there in the middle, with crowds of over 80,000 screaming, to hold nerves is tough. You need an ice-cool temperament and focus only on the ball and how you are going to bury that ball into the cage with the magic of your foot.
In the end, Spanish football fans were saying, “My foot!” Yes, it was footwork from the Moroccan stars who have now become a symbol for the Arab world. As it were, with Saudi Arabia and Iran showing guts to win in the league phase, the Arab world has risen to celebrate football, big time. None would have given the Moroccans a ghost of a chance against Spain, a national side that won the World Cup in 2010 against the Netherlands in South Africa.
That was 12 years ago when the margin was just 1-0. It’s a trend with Spain, they keep possession of the ball, play defense and then fail to score. Modern football is about playing freely, where creating chances and scoring has become a trend. One wonders, what the Spaniards were training for, as taking 1,000 tries in practice to perfect the penalties sounds so monotonous. Did pressure numb their foot or did stage fright leave them pusillanimous are questions that football experts will debate over for the next few days?
Morocco celebrates after beating Spain as team enters quarter-finals for the first time
Sample this. At the post-match conference, it was not the Moroccan coach but a Moroccan journo who gave a thanksgiving speech of sorts and ended it by saying he had no question to ask! “‘Today you have made history. You have gained back the trust of 40 million Moroccans. Generations are happy. Thank you, coach Walid,” said the journo in English.
These are rare moments. For the Arab world to unite and cheer Morocco was obvious. This was unity from the Arab world at a different level. The North African nation has a beautiful history wherein the natural terrain produces wonderful athletes in track and field. The names of Said Aouita, the 1500 meters champion, and Hicham El Guerrouj are well known. They dominated middle distance around the globe like kings. There are videos on them as well as biographies, some translated into 35 plus languages. Such has been the impact of Auoita and El Guerrouj.
Coming from a country with a natural elevation of 2,600 feet above sea level, the cardio capacity of their runners was always strong. The tradition continues, even today. Geographically, Morocco borders Algeria to the East and South East, Western Sahara to the South, and uniquely, the Atlantic Ocean to the West, and the Mediterranean Sea to the North. Perhaps, it is the only African country with coastal exposure as well to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
On Monday night, it was a sea of humanity in Qatar that cheered the Moroccan football heroes as they tore the form book to shreds. As the first Arab nation to come this far in a sport that has been dominated by Europeans, Argentina and Brazil are gigantic. It was like sinking the Titanic, though, this was in the desert!
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