Morocco will play in their sixth World Cup at Qatar 2022. After missing the final stage of the tournament for a 20-year span (1998 to 2018), they’ll be participating for a second consecutive time. Morocco havethe historic distinction of being the first African country which won a game in the World Cup. That happened in 1986 at Mexico when they defeated Portugal (3-1) at Estadio Tres de Marzo in Zapopan.
The Atlas Lions best performance in a World Cup was precisely that one of 1986. Surprisingly, Morocco won Group F against three European foes: England, Poland and Portugal. In the Round of 16, they were eliminated 1-0 by West Germany in Monterrey. In the rest of the World Cups they’ve played, Morocco haven’t surpassed the group stage.
For the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Walid Regragui’s team is part of Group F with Belgium, Canada and Croatia. They will have a really tough task ahead in order to secure a spot in the Round of 16. Locally, though many would expect more titles, Morocco havewon the African Cup of Nationsonly once: 1976.
How did Morocco qualify for Qatar 2022?
Considering their FIFA World ranking, Morocco avoided the first stage of qualification and had a lot of luck in the second round’s draw. The Moroccan squad won easily Group F against Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sudan. There wasn’t trouble at all in that phase. Six victories in six matches, 20 goals scored and only 1 received considering the rivals were very weak.
In the third and definitive round, Morocco got very lucky again in the draw. While the other four series were really tough matchups, Morocco had no problems to dispatch the Democratic Republic of Congo. The aggregate score was 5-2, after a 4-1 blowout in the second leg played at Casablanca.
So, though Morocco got their ticket to Qatar 2022 fair and square, it’s also true that they might have gotten the easiest road to the World Cup in the entire qualification process in Africa. Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sudan and DR Congo represent a path which eliminated teams such as Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria or Ivory Coast would have signed in a minute.