Heroic Morocco trounces Scotland but fails to qualify
A heroic and brilliant Moroccan team trounced Scotland 3-0 but failed to make it to the second round because of U.S. referee Esfandiar Baharmast who offered a penalty-victory to Norway over World Champions of Brazil.
The Atlas Lions of Morocco left head high the 16th World Cup, during which African teams were strangely stabbed by referees. Cameroon was also victim of hungarian referee Laszlo Vagner, who deprived the Cameroonians from a clean goal they netted in the second half in their decisive match against Chile. The match wound up a 1-1 draw paving the way for chile's qualification.
While Morocco was delivering one of the most spectacular matches of this world cup with a fine victory over the "Tartan Army" of Scotland, the Brazilians were strangely dragging their feet in the other Group A match against Norway. The result of the match was decisive for Morocco's qualification. A draw could have pushed Morocco to the second round.
"I have loved the Selecao since my early years. But now I hate them", said Mustapha Hadji, Morocco's midfield star, accusing Brazil of plotting against Morocco.
Morocco's assistant coach, Abderrahmane Slimani, even recalled a German-Austrian conspiracy against Algeria in the 1982 World Cup in Spain, when the two teams flagrantly arranged a 1-1 draw to bar the way to Algeria's qualification to the second round.
The penalty generously granted by the US referee to the poor performing Norwegians killed all Morocco's hopes to survive in the competition.
In the Morocco-Scotland match, shrewd striker Salah Eddine Bassir opened the score for Morocco, when he drove home a strong shot from a closed angle at the 22nd minute.
Three minutes into the second half, Abdeljalil Hadda (Camacho) netted the second goal after outpacing a scottish defender to send a strong shot that the Scottish keeper failed to save despite a desperate intervention.
The second goal allowed the Moroccans to dominate the game until Salah Eddine Bassir scored a third magnificent goal. Bassir skillfully lobbed the ball over a Scottish defender and calmly sent the ball home to seal his country's victory.
The Moroccans cheerfulness was not to last. A tragedy was awaiting. All Moroccan fans and players broke down into bitter tears when they learnt that Brazil lost its match to Norway 1-2.
"It's the worst scenario we could think of. We had a great match, scored great goals but it's all over. I'm very sad for the players. They would have deserved to go through," Morocco's French coach Henri Michel said.
Asked what he said to his tearful players, Michel said "I told them Thank You."
"We are all of us, the players and myself, very disappointed at what's happening to us. I want to pay tribute to them for the excellent game, for an outstanding game and I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart."
"We lost not when we lost to Brazil but when we drew with Norway", Michel said, referring to Morocco's 2-2 draw with Norway in the opening match after leading the score twice.
"But Morocco showed the world that we played an excellent World Cup and we deserved to be in the 1998 World Cup."
"We never really expected Norway to defeat Brazil, one chance out of a million really, but it happened. What can we do?", he said adding "I understand that a penalty was given (to Norway) in a very generous way."
"We have shown tonight that Morocco is capable of facing the best teams and to meet the challenges. We tried on the field to follow our strategy and we were technically very good. We made mistakes against Norway which we didn't repeat tonight," Michel said.
despite the disappointment, Moroccan fans took to the streets in several Moroccan cities to celebrate their team's excellent performance and victory.
Several fans were shouting slogans accusing Fifa (the world football governing body) of favoring European and American teams to the detriment of Africa. "Fifa, procurer" shouted the crowds.
"Glory to the Atlas Lions" wrote the Moroccan press, hailing the courage and self-denial of the Moroccan team, which proved to the whole world that it deserves to be counted among the world's prestigious football nations.
The press was unanimous in denouncing the US referee who gave a leverage to Norway to beat Brazil and robbed Morocco of a deserved qualification, Map reported.