By Anthony Harwood
As the World Cup enters its final stages, what will be the abiding memories that we take away from this at times frenetic 29-day tournament, the first to be held in winter?
Apart from the nightmare for England fans of Harry Kane’s penalty miss against France there is Lionel Messi leading Argentina to the brink of their first trophy since 1986, which could still be surpassed if France secure back-to-back wins in the final for the first time since Brazil did so in 1962.
However, just as significant and why I will be rooting for Morocco in tonight’s semi-final against the French, is the sight of an Arab country reaching the semi-finals of the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East.
Who can forget the tens of thousands of ecstatic Moroccan fans who filled the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha after their team’s quarter-final victory over Portugal, with midfielder Sofiane Boufal dancing with his mother on the pitch?
Every Arab joined in the celebrations, of course, not only in the souqs of Marrakech and Casablanca, but across the Gulf region.
And who would not want Morocco, as clear underdogs, to get one over their former colonial rulers and beat France when the two sides meet on Wednesday and keep the tournament alive in the region to the final day.
If that happens then you can expect the roof to come off the Al Bayt Stadium as a Muslim nation reaches the final of a World Cup for the first time ever.
Turkey made it to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, but lost 1-0 to eventual tournament winners, Brazil.
Apart from that there have been a smattering of Muslim, or semi-Muslim, countries reaching the last 16 such as Nigeria in 1994 and 1998, and Senegal who made to the quarter finals in 2002. By reaching the semi-finals now, Morocco is the already the first African country to do so.
Saudi Arabia got past the group stage after their maiden World Cup qualification in 1994 and when Brazil hosted the tournament in 2014 Nigeria and Algeria both made it through to the last 16, as did Senegal this year before losing to England.
In the modern era (when teams did not automatically go to knock-out rounds) Morocco were the first to make it to the last 16 after topping their group in Mexico in 1986 ahead of England, Portugal and Poland. They then lost to eventual finalists West Germany.
This inaugural World Cup in the Middle East will produce its own list of ‘firsts’; first winners, first losing finalists and first Golden Boot winner.
But, whatever happens tonight, Morocco’s appearance in the semi-finals will be a defining moment of the tournament as a combined Arab population of 420 million people celebrate across the globe.
It is not known when the next World Cup will be held in the Middle East or in which country. Whoever is the host will face the same human rights issues which have bedevilled Qatar, due to the hated kafala system of sponsored labour which exists across the region and affects nearly 20 million workers.
The controversy surrounding Qatar led to FIFA establishing its own human rights panel to run the rule over future bids, which it did when choosing the next hosts for 2026 - Mexico, Canada and the USA.
Given FIFA’s insistence on stadiums with a capacity of at least 40,000 people, any Gulf country which wins the right to host a future tournament will have to embark on the same construction projects, in the same searing summer hit and using the same migrant labour from South Asia as Qatar.
These are not insurmountable problems but they will need to be thought through with reforms that Qatar has introduced properly enforced. The same cultural differences such as LGBTQ rights also exist across the region.
We will have to get used to having a winter tournament and the disruption to the European leagues which this entails. I don’t have a problem with that because it’s important to grow the game in parts of the world which have previously been bystanders.
FIFA boss Gianni Infantino said that this World Cup had become truly global because of the number of upsets at the group stage. Think of Saudi Arabia beating Argentina or Japan defeating Germany. “There are no more small teams and no more big teams,” he said.
There will be no bigger upset than if Morocco win tonight.
Anthony Harwood is a former foreign editor of the Daily Mail
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