Morocco's remarkable World Cup run will live long in the memory of all who witnessed it whatever happens against France on Wednesday night, with Walid Regragui's side the first African team to reach the semi-finals in history.
Remarkably, it has emerged that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta may have inadvertently played a helping hand in the Atlas Lions' efforts in Qatar due to his influence on their manager. Shortly after Morocco shocked the world by reaching the last four courtesy of another underdog win, this time against Portugal, a tweet surfaced showing the connection between Arteta and Morocco's manager, who was only appointed in late August.
The tweet in question was a screenshot of a Zoom call, hosted by the Gunners boss as he put on a tactical seminar for other budding coaches last year. During his presentation, Arteta used Arsenal's famous FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City in July 2020 as a point of reference.
Eagle-eyed fans spotted that amongst the gang of Arteta's students was none other than Regragui, who appeared to be taking notes of the Gunners boss' teachings.
Regragui clearly put everything he picked up during the seminar to good use, as Morocco are just 90 minutes of football away from reaching Sunday's World Cup final. Even if the north African side fall short against defending champions France, they will face Croatia in the third place play-off on Saturday.
Arteta has spoken about the Morocco boss since the tweet went viral, telling reporters: "The impact he is having, he deserves it and he is a total credit to them.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Morocco reach the World Cup final? Comment below.
"What he is doing is amazing, what the team is transmitting is great and I think it is a really positive thing for world football to have an African team at this stage. They’re one of four very select teams in this World Cup."
While France are the overwhelming favourites to win the second semi-final, Regragui has declared he is "confident" Morocco can add Les Bleus to their list of scalps, having already toppled Spain and Portugal.
"We have beaten some top sides. Before every match, people thought we would get knocked out but we are still here. We are getting closer to our dreams and we will fight to get there," the 47-year-old claimed.
"We are one of the four best teams in the world now and we want to reach the final. The best team, Brazil, is already knocked out. We are hungry.
"I don’t know if it will be enough but we want Africa to be on top of the world. I know we are not favourites but we are confident. You might think that’s crazy, but a bit of craziness is good."
Should Morocco manage to spring another surprise against France, it will be Lionel Messi's Argentina awaiting them in Sunday's World Cup final.
