Moroccan Support for team Melli (and background information)

[jojofaith]

My name is Youssef & I am a Moroccan supporter. Just wanted to wish you guys good luck in the upcoming world cup & I hope that whoever wins the first game between us, the other side will get behind them & support them, in a perfect world we would both get through. This is the first time in our history that we are sending a professional team to the world cup & not a semi-pro & alot of the players are talking about doing something special at the finals. I watched the Turkey-Iran game & I can tell you the Moroccans are not taking you guys lightly, Iran has some good players & in watching your team it reminded me of our teams in 94 & 98. The important thing is Saudi Arabia gets humiliated again lol!

Nice to join the forum

[persian_pooya]

My name is Youssef & I am a Moroccan supporter. Just wanted to wish you guys good luck in the upcoming world cup & I hope that whoever wins the first game between us, the other side will get behind them & support them, in a perfect world we would both get through. This is the first time in our history that we are sending a professional team to the world cup & not a semi-pro & alot of the players are talking about doing something special at the finals. I watched the Turkey-Iran game & I can tell you the Moroccans are not taking you guys lightly, Iran has some good players & in watching your team it reminded me of our teams in 94 & 98. The important thing is Saudi Arabia gets humiliated again lol!

Nice to join the forum

Thank you brother I hope that both teams compete in the spirit of fair play and that the best team on the day wins. And we all also hope for the the Saudis to crash out with 3 losses and a -24 goal difference . I will be at the world cup and have purchased a Russian national team jersey to support the Russians in giving the Saudis their first 8-0 defeat of the 2018 World Cup!

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[val]

Moroccan Support for team Melli (and background information)

Best of luck to you guys at the games

In the 1994 World Cup you had a great team, but very unlucky, I have been looking forward to see your team succeed at the world cup ever since

my favorite player back then was ahmad bahja, he was better than Maradona in that world cup

[DR Strangemoosh]

This is the first time in our history that we are sending a professional team to the world cup & not a semi-pro

Brother best of luck to Morocco and you have a great squad but I disagree with your statement here.

If your team in 1998 was "semi-pro", then I don't know what a professional team is!

There were only 5 players from the entire squad based in Morocco, the others were based throughout decent European teams. You had 3 players who formed the spine of one of the best Spanish club teams at the time, the "Super Depor" generation. There was strength all around the team, from Hadji to Naybet, Bassir, Azzouzi, Chippo.

I remember that world cup more than any other WC as a I recorded/watched every single game and Morocco were unbelievably unlucky not to get to the 2nd round.

Can you please elaborate how the hell that is a "semi-pro" team?!?!

[ballhugger]

Welcome to the board jojofaith!
Looking forward to having good discussions with you and other Moroccan fans on these boards during the WC. The first game I am rooting against you...ofcourse, but after that I am a Morocco fan !

[jojofaith]

First & foremost the management inception & CORE of that '98 team was Semi-pro, the federation was controlled by the army & a general ran it like a sunday pub league. The league was semi- pro financially, tactically & organizationally, many of those '98 players you named were originally from the Moroccan league. Naybet played for Wydad originally, Chippo was from Kenitra, el khalej was from Kawkab Marrakech originally, the goalkeeper was playing for a small Moroccan team called Setat in the bottom of the standings & it showed. It was ultimately our downfall, although some players later played in Europe their start was in the Moroccan league & many Moroccans feel they retained the mentality of a semi-pro which isn't good when you're up against the world champions, also our best players were playing in teams in Europe like Deportivo or Southampton which is a big difference to today when we have players from Real Madrid, Juventus, Ajax & Galatassaray. Another important point is the mentality of the team currently. It is very good

[RaginG Inferno]

The important thing is Saudi Arabia gets humiliated again lol!

I like this guy already.

[DR Strangemoosh]

many of those '98 players you named were originally from the Moroccan league.d

Of course. But at the time of the WC itself, they were playing in European leagues. So sure, the set up for the local league (where 5 out of Morocco's 23-man squad were based) may have been semi-pro, but by the time of the world cup the squad is pretty rich with players starring all across europe, and for the trio based an Depor, at a very high level.

I don't know how old you are but Deportivo in 1998 was a huge team, it is different to Deportivo today. The Super Depor generation of 1998-2000 was the third biggest team in Spain. And three of its players were Moroccan.

[saeed_noro]

you are welcome dude. i guess iran morocco game is a draw game, a 1:1 game on paper. but whoever wins the match, has at least 2 good chances/final matches.

Actually i think, the saudi chances to qualify for next stage are higher than our both chances....do not underestimate the saudis. They can do it actually.

[Sam van Dam]

the enemy of my enemy is my friend. welcome aboard and may saudi lose all their matches

[sirvan]

Good luck to Morocco as well brother, i have many Moroccan friend in Holland and i will support your team during the world cup. Let's hope our teams play with honour and with their heart!

[jojofaith]

Deportivo was good in '98 but they were still a team that looked to sell players, don't get me wrong, decent but not world beaters kind of like Monaco or Athletico Madrid, a good team but nowhere near what we have currently Real Madrid or Juventus or Ajax. My point is this Morocco team is more professional than previous teams because there are "0" remnants of Semi-professionalism or the amateurism we had in the past

[shahabGAOL]

This game makes more special for me because i am married with a Moroccan. My wife saying that Morocco will win but I sure we will get the good win. I wish the Moroccan team all the best in this group. Spain and Portugal al not as strong like before. Portugal played Tunesia 2:2 only! We have to WIN Morocco to make a bigger chance to go out of the group. Spain we will play defensely and I think if we play like Argentina we would draw or if lucky a win by 1:0 against Spain. Portugal is not like before they only have Ronaldo, we have the opportunity to win because we got CQ he knows very much about Portugal team and Spain.

I really hope our boys learn from the match against Turkey because it was not what I had expected from them

[Rooyintan]

Morocco had a good team in 94 & 98. I still remember how I supported Morocco in many matches specially the game with Saudi Arabia in 94 and was so disappointed that Morocco lost.

[Amin_]

I have a lot of Moroccan friends in Holland and although we will be "enemies" in the 1st match, I will support them against Spain and Portugal (and perhaps even further).

It would be one of the biggest WC upsets ever if both Iran and Morocco would advance in spite of Spain and Portugal. Let's write some WC history!