Morocco is not accidental to defeat Spain in this World Cup knockout round. @Visual China
World Cup In-depth Forum·Qiedi
Guangzhou Daily All-Media Reporter Zhang Zhe Zhou Wanqi
This World Cup is the first time in the history of the World Cup in 92 years to land in the Middle East. As the schedule gradually approaches the end, the Qatar World Cup has also left happy memories for fans all over the world. Morocco entered the quarterfinals for the first time, which was also the first Arab national team to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup, which is a real version of "One Thousand and One Nights". What does Arab football show the world their appearance through this World Cup? Let’s listen to the analysis of two senior football reporters from Guangzhou Daily.
Morocco's entry into the top 8 is of great significance
Zhang Zhe: The Middle East is located in the "three continents and five seas". It is an important road connecting Asia, Africa and Europe, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean and , and connecting the West and the East. It plays an important role in the world's politics, economy and military. From a geopolitical perspective, the three countries of West Asia, Qatar, Iran and Saudi in this World Cup, as well as Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa, all belong to the broad Middle East countries.
Except for the host Qatar, the other four Middle Eastern countries have the benefits of "half home court", so the teams of five Middle Eastern countries have received support from a large number of local fans. The World Cup in Qatar also fully demonstrates the warmth, friendship and long-standing and unique national culture of the people in the region.
Zhou Wanqi: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Morocco are all Arab countries and are currently members of Alliance of Arab States . In the field of football, the Arab Cup has been held since 1963 and has played a total of 10 sessions until last year, and has a great influence in the entire Arab world. Among the teams participating in the Arab Cup, there are 8 teams in West Asia and North Africa that have entered the World Cup.
Morocco belongs to Africa geographically, and Africa has previously also reached the top 8 of the World Cup. But Morocco is the first Arab country to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup, which undoubtedly has very positive significance for the further promotion and development of football in the Arab world.
Arab football has always been looking for a sense of existence
Zhang Zhe: Arab has also made great contributions to world cultural exchanges in football. For example, the Cuju in ancient China was introduced from China to Europe through the " Silk Road " and then gradually developed into modern football.
Most Arab countries have tropical desert climates, hot and less rainy. Such climatic conditions will affect the development of football in the local area, so their football background is generally not deep. In addition to North African countries, most of the international football rankings of West Asian countries are between 50 and 150, which also leads to a small number of outstanding players among the Arabs. Arabs generally have strong physical flexibility and flexibility, but lack integrity and are soft in their playing style. Therefore, although there are many Arab teams in previous World Cups, they often find it difficult to perform well. But this situation has improved greatly in this World Cup, with Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisia all having impressive results.
Zhou Wanqi: Arab football has actually produced world-class stars, such as Algerian French star Zidane, Arab world king Salah , UAE star Omar , etc.
Arab countries have a strong integration of foreign cultures. They are good at using advanced European football concepts and talents to improve their youth training and national team levels. Most of the national teams of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab countries in West Asia hire foreign coaches. It is not uncommon for them to change foreign coaches frequently, and they are rich and powerful. Over the past 10 years, after generally paying attention to youth training, outstanding young talents from Arab countries have emerged one after another. They have also incorporated many advanced modern football styles in maintaining their delicate skills. For example, Saudi Arabia this time gives people a feeling that it is not soft, and Morocco is even more of an iron-blooded legion.
In addition, long-term naturalization policies and overseas delivery will also help Arab countries to improve their football level rapidly.For example: several Arab teams have naturalized players in the team, and the entire Moroccan team plays almost all in European leagues. Although Qatar has poor results this time, if they continue to explore the path of "naturalization + youth training", there will still be hope for the future.
Why did Moroccan football rise?
Zhang Zhe: Morocco has created a new history this time, and the outside world likes it to be "pure" enough for their football environment. This factor is of course important, but as FIFA once praised them: "It is no exaggeration to say that Morocco is a hotbed of football talents."
In fact, Morocco became the first African team to reach the World Cup finals in 1970, and in 1986, it became the first African team to advance to the knockout round. This World Cup is their sixth time to reach the finals. Therefore, we cannot ignore Morocco's long-term accumulation in the development of high-level football over the past 40 years. Hammerd, a foreign aid who played for Guangzhou City in 2014, was phenomenal in the Chinese Super League at that time.
Nowadays, professional football and amateur football in Morocco have formed a six-level orderly connection system. With the support of its king, more than a dozen first-class national youth training academies have been built across the country, similar to Asbair in Qatar. With such hardware support, Morocco, which has a small population, can continuously emerge and enrich its national team. In addition, Morocco is also keen on hosting international football competitions. In 2013 and 2014, Morocco hosted two Club World Cup tournaments. They have also bid for the World Cup five times and are currently joining Spain, intending to continue bidding for the 2030 Centennial World Cup. In addition, Morocco successfully held the Women's Football Cup this year and won the runner-up. The Moroccan Women's Football Team is also the first Arab national team to participate in the Women's World Cup .
Zhou Wanqi: Morocco and Spain are only separated by one Strait of Gibraltar , so they are quite familiar with European high-level football, and it is not a coincidence that they beat Spain in this knockout match. They were no longer at a disadvantage in the group stage against "Twin Teeth" in the last World Cup.
Moroccan football also has an important feature - dual nationality players. Historically, the legendary scorer Fontaine , who scored 13 goals in a single World Cup, was born in Morocco. In this World Cup, Ziyech, who currently plays for Chelsea , has dual nationality of , Dutch and Morocco; , who currently plays for , Paris Saint-Germain , has dual nationality of Spain and Morocco; , goalkeeper , Sevilla , has dual nationality of , Bunu , has dual nationality of Canada and Morocco; , Bundesliga , Bayern , Mazravi , has dual nationality of morocco and the Netherlands. More than ten players in the Moroccan team play in the five major European leagues. Judging from the lineup configuration, they are already second-rate European teams.
In addition, the Moroccan coach Regraj cannot be ignored. He took office only at the end of August this year, and he has the shortest coaching time among the top 32 in this World Cup. At the age of 47, he not only calmed down the internal strife after taking over the coaching spell, but also created a set of iron-blooded tactics for the team. Morocco lost only one own goal in the group stage, becoming the team with the least goals conceded so far in this World Cup. Regraghi is the first African head coach in history to lead the team to the top 8 of the World Cup.
"Golden Yuan Football" supported by oil capital
Zhou Wanqi: Arabs holding oil capital have played an increasingly important role in the football world in recent years. In 2008, UAE Capital took over Manchester City , and so far, Manchester City has won 6 Premier League championships. In 2011, the Qatar consortium took over Paris Saint-Germain, and Paris Saint-Germain quickly became the team that won the most Ligue 1 championships. Last year, Saudi consortium took over Newcastle United, which made significant progress this season.
Arab capital has become a huge force in the mainstream European leagues. Although it is difficult to challenge the traditional European powerhouses in a short period of time, if this trend continues, the mainstream European leagues may one day be dominated by Arab capital.
Zhang Zhe: Except for Saudi Arabia, Egypt , and the UAE, the overall scale and level of the leagues are not very high.However, because the leagues of Gulf countries are supported by strong oil capital, they can engage in "gold-yuan football". For example, in the Qatar Golden League that started in 2003, from the original Batistuta and Cannavaro to the Xavi that retired in the previous two years, a large number of outdated superstars are "retired" here. Even recently, European media have reported that C Ronaldo may win the Saudi giant Riyadh with a sky-high transfer fee of 200 million euros after the World Cup.
Of course, after years of "golden dollar football", West Asia's league level has been significantly improved. In the history of the AFC Champions League, although East Asian teams have an absolute advantage in winning the championship, Saudi Hillal has won two championships in the past three years. From the current reforms of the AFC against the AFC Champions League, it can be seen that West Asian football will further suppress East Asian football. After the successful World Cup in Qatar this time, the Arab countries' football influence will be upgraded, and Arab capital is also expected to further expand its territory in Football World Cup .
