Russia starts with high five
RUSSIA welcomed the world to the Fifa World Cup yesterday as fans streamed in to witness the historic moment, with the hosts claiming a 5-0 victory against Saudi Arabia.
Before the muchanticipated opening match, Russian President Vladimir Putin was greeted by a huge cheer as he spoke of showing the world a hospitable Russia and of sport overcoming differences.
Russia is grappling with Western sanctions imposed after its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine four years ago, but a crushing win in the first of 64 matches of a month-long festival was all that many Russians were thinking about.
Talking of a love of football uniting the planet “as one team”, Putin said: “In this unity, over which no powers reign, in which there are no differences of language, of ideology or of faith, lies the great power of football and of all sport.”
The president, newly re-elected after 18 years in power, heard British singer Robbie Williams dominate a colourful half-hour opening ceremony at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
Putin watched the game with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
IT HAS TAKEN Morocco 20 years to make their return to the Fifa World Cup which – and their new breed of players are ready to revive past glories.
Coach Herve Renard will be making his World Cup debut in Russia, but for his team it is their fifth appearance in a tournament which has five African teams.
Morocco begin their campaign with a match against Iran today. Iran are coached by former Bafana Bafana mentor Carlos Queiroz.
This World Cup is an historic moment for Moroccan football, one engineered in the main by the French coach Renard, a man who is never slow to take on a challenge.
A two-time winner of the CAF African Cup of Nations – the only coach to have lifted the trophy with different countries – and a specialist in African football, Renard booked his first trip to the world finals thanks to his side’s defeat of Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan in November last year.
It was a victory that ended his own 10 year wait for a place on the biggest stage of them all.
“My happiest memory of it all is going back to Morocco after that win,” said the Frenchman, who secured the African title with Zambia in 2012 and then again with Cote d’Ivoire in 2015.
A look back at their history shows that playmaker Mustapha Hadji was Morocco’s main star, scoring 12 goals in making 63 appearances for them between 1993 and 2002.
Morocco’s biggest World Cup win was a 3-0 defeat of Scotland at France 1998.
Hadji is now an assistant coach to Renard and believes the current side has much in common with the 1998 vintage. “There’s a solidity and togetherness about this team, which are exactly the qualities that made us so strong.”
Morocco were the only one of the five African qualifiers not to concede a goal in the third and final round of the preliminaries, thanks to a welldrilled defence marshalled by captain Mehdi Benatia.
The Atlas Lions have much to offer at the other end of the pitch too, as they showed in scoring 11 goals in the third round, four of them coming from Khalid Boutaib.
Morocco will need all their defensive and attacking knowhow if they are to emerge from a challenging group that also features Portugal and Spain.
As far as Renard is concerned, they are more than capable of achieving that objective.
“It’s not a case of just being happy to be here,” said the French tactician, whose side are on an 18-match unbeaten run and now stand on the brink of creating more history to go with their predecessors’ ground-breaking run at Mexico 1986.
It was there that Morocco beat Portugal en route to becoming the first ever African side to reach the second round.
The golden generations of 1986 and 1998 showed the way for the Atlas Lions, and the new breed of 2018 are intent on following in their tracks. – ANA