Morocco’s football world cup in Qatar is already a genuine success, even though the Lions of Atlas will not stop on such a good way : the team coached by Walid Regragui kicked out Spain in round of sixteen of the tournament (0-0, 3-0 on penalty kicks) and is going to meet Portugal next Saturday in quarter finals, which looks like a real achievement for all African football.

Indeed, this is only the fourth time in the history of the world cup an African squad has managed to reach the quarter finals of the competition: Cameroon once did it in 1990, followed by Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Nothing is done yet, but a victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammates would mean an accession to the semifinals, a performance no one on the continent has managed to do so far.

In a competition that often tends to be a struggle between European teams and Latin America (mostly with Brazil and Argentina) starting this step, the qualification of Morocco is blowing a fresh wind on the tournament. A true satisfaction for Africa after Ghana, Cameroon and Tunisia failed to qualify for the next round. The comeback to reality was even harder for Senegal with that slap received against England in 8^th finals (0-3).

Talking about England, the British will face up to France in quarter finals in an opposition people should not reduce to the duel between Kylian Mbappé and Kyle Walker.

Brazil will be opposed to the other (and unfortunate) finalist of Russia 2018 with a confrontation against Croatia, while Argentina and the Netherlands will compete for the last seat in semifinals. 

No Asian team since Japan and South Korea were defeated in the previous round. No Oceanian team as well. Three continents represented in quarter finals, and the opportunity for Africa, without any negative pressure, to haul up one team in semifinals for the first time ever!