Morocco performed like mythical superheroes. When IR Iran struck first, Hicham Dguig’s men slinked into their red capes and began to decode their illustrious opponents at will. The Moroccans’ engrossing, extrasensory team impelled them into a 4-1 half-time lead.
Iran fought back valiantly, but it was insufficient to stop Morocco registering their most impressive all-time victory in the FIFA Futsal World Cup™ and booking a quarter-final against Brazil.
“I have no words to express my feelings,” Soufiane Borite told FIFA. “Thank God. It was a tough game. We managed to beat one of the biggest teams in the world in Iran.
“We have a lot of injuries. We lost another player today, we now have eight players injured. To score four goals in a half against a team like Iran really is something. They came back in the second half, but fortunately we were patient and defended well.
“Through the fight of the players and the words of the coach, we managed to win the game. This is futsal. You never know who is going to win. Thank God we did.”
Charraoui added: “We were playing against one of the best teams in the world. You can lose against them because they are incredible. It was a very difficult match.
“We have a lot of injuries, we had to try different tactics today. But we spoke a lot with the coach before the game and we said, ‘If we lose, we go home. We can’t let that happen’.
“We are very happy with our first-half performance. We attacked more and we scored four goals. In the second half we were a little bit tired. Tayebi scored an amazing first goal, that’s the way it goes.
“I said before the game that we had to grow in this tournament. We know it was our best performance. We had belief in our coach, we had belief in our players. We’re very happy to reach the next round.”
If Morocco had it tough in the last 16, they’ll have it tougher in the quarter-finals. They will, after all, go from playing a nation fourth on the FIFA Futsal Men’s World Ranking to one at its summit.
“We still have another game to fight in against Brazil,” said Borite. “Brazil are so good. They’re scoring a lot of goals. Nobody said we could win against Iran.
“Everything is possible in futsal. It will be a really tough game, but with our coach, if we take our chances we can win.”
Charraoui was in agreement: “Brazil are an amazing, amazing, amazing team, but we believe. We have all Moroccans praying for us. With their support we believe we can beat Brazil.”
