Key events21m agoCollina defends World Cup refereeing25m agoPreambleOsasu ObayiuwanaMorocco are looking to create more history, which would take their greatest ever shock.
double quotation markOver the past six decades, Morocco have achieved several performance milestones for Africa at the World Cup. The first country to qualify directly, for the 1970 finals in Mexico, they returned in 1986 and became the first team from the continent to make the last 16, then made that impressive semi-final run in Qatar four years ago.
Even if the Atlas Lions fail to match their 2022 performance, by losing to France on Thursday , they have made tournament history as the first African team to reach the quarter-finals at successive World Cups.The Moroccan fans are primed for a huge occasion. Photograph: Brian Snyder/ReutersWe shall begin properly by looking ahead to France v Morocco. We must all hope that we are not talking about the match officials come full-time because that would be rather tedious.Meanwhile, Rob Draper has looked into Michael Olise’s background to find out how he went from Hayes to the world stage.
double quotation mark“We were playing Sparta Prague in the European Under-21 Cup,” Flanagan says. “I got there at half‑time. Michael was about 17 and on the bench. I sat in front of [the former Crystal Palace and West Ham player] Hayden Mullins, who used to work for us and who I got on well with. Michael came on with 17 minutes to go. Within five minutes Hayden leaned over to me and said: ‘Who the fuck is that?!’ I just started laughing. And Hayden said: ‘Come on then, tell me, where did you find this one?’ So I explained the story …”
