there are many ways to describe the atmosphere here ecstatic, joyful, shocked, euphoric. but one word that would do justice to morocco s performance and their fans presence is historic . this is the first arab and african team to make it to the world cup semifinals. history has been written yet again by morocco s team. the tension was palpable on the pitch and in the stands, with the fans chanting seer, seer , which means go ahead in arabic. until the last minute they held their breath, and then came relief. many are still trying to find ways to describe what that moment really means for them. yeah, we came today from morocco. we came this way with my husband. i left my baby. i have a two month old baby, who i had to leave. and we re so happy with the moroccan team. all the arab and muslim world, it s history that we re witnessing. and you re going to tell your baby about tonight? yes.
an absolute scorcher from aurelian putting the world cup holders 1 0 up. but this england are more resolute than some of their predecessors, and early in the second half, sakka won a penalty. up stepped harry kane, this goal levelling the scores and putting the england captain equal in the all time record for his country. but anything harry can do, olivier can do better giroud s header making him france s top goalscorer of all time. not long after, another penalty for england, but this time kane couldn t convert. misery for the english, france s defence of their title goes on. in the day s other quarter final, the hopes of a nation and an entire continent rested on the shoulders of morocco. but that pressure didn t seem to show, the moroccans taking the lead towards the end of the first half. portugal almost equalised a few moments later,
bring the trophy back. so that is quite a record there for france to be able to get this far again. of course they re hoping they can get all the way to the end, but also a very big night for morocco. they ve broken some records here too. absolutely. let s repeat it again, because sometimes we get carried away with the news and we don t put it in context. morocco are in the semifinals of the world cup. this just sounds unreal even to say. it s not only the first arab county to make it, it was really the first african country to get so far. it s also very weird because if we think about it, africa had some huge stars that were never able to get to that point. in the world cup, didier drogba, not to mention samuel eto o. it s been a miracle on one side, nothing less. on the other side it makes a lot of sense,
bruno fernandez s strike hitting the crossbar. then, in the second half, cristiano ronaldo came on. could he be the hero one more time? no, he could not. morocco making history, ronaldo almost certainly making his last appearance at a world cup. so let s get some reaction, starting with morocco s historic victory. and plenty of celebrations back home. these pictures are from casablanca. but the biggest smiles were in qatar, on the faces of fans lucky enough to watch the game. our correspondent shaima khalil has been speaking to them. there are many ways to describe the atmosphere here ecstatic, joyful, shocked, euphoric. but one word that would do justice to morocco s performance and their fans presence is historic. this is the first arab
it was 2a years since the last time that the reigning world champions were able to get in the last four again. and this tells how they are reigning world champions, but they are a brand new team, with so many young players how serious they are to bring the trophy back. so that is quite a record there for france to be able to get this far again. of course they re hoping they can get all the way to the end, but also a very big night for morocco. they ve broken some records here too. let s repeat it again, because sometimes we get carried away with the news and we don t put it in context. morocco are in the semi finals of the world cup. this just sounds unreal even to say. it s not only the first arab county to make it, it was really the first african to get so far.