Boufal, Bono and Hakimi’s ‘bad’ penalties – stories of Morocco’s unlikely heroes

Morocco manager Walid Regragui and reserve goalkeeper Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti were welcomed to their pre-match press conference with a round of applause from their country’s journalists. The underdogs defeated Belgium, Canada and Spain, and held Croatia to a 0-0 draw, on their way to securing a quarter-final against Portugal today.

“I count you as a brother,” one reporter said to the head coach midway through the conference. There was no question, just a statement. “Thank you for our national squad, you are our pride. The Moroccan king came to celebrate in the streets. We want you to make us happy, we want you to fight.”

It may be a surprise — and a source of immense pride — to many that Morocco have made it this far but the team are not talking that way.

“We have analysed them, we have a plan, so we know what to do to spring a surprise,” said Regragui of Portugal. “They are the favourites, they want to win the World Cup, just like Spain did.”

In beating Spain, Morocco became the first north African side to reach this stage. “It’s not enough,” said the manager. “We can’t rest on our laurels. We haven’t got carried away by the euphoria and we’re not satisfied with where we are. Morocco deserves to be here, football is global, we have the federation, our people, a whole continent, the Arab world, that’s a lot of people behind us, we’ll use that energy and ensure we have no regrets.”

It has been a remarkable journey so far for a group of players who have a history of surprising people. “They are hungry,” said Regragui, “they are not happy with how they have done so far.”

Here, The Athletic tells a selection of their stories.

Achraf Hakimi’s penalties? ‘He’s rubbish at them, worse than me when I played’

When Achraf Hakimi cooly dinked his penalty beyond Unai Simon, his former Inter teammate and fellow World Cup quarter-finalist, Ivan Perisic, left some crying emojis under his Instagram post and made sure he copied in their old coach Antonio Conte. After a game against Hellas Verona in April 2021, Conte was withering, tongue slightly in cheek, about the Moroccan’s prowess from the spot. “What’s important is he doesn’t take penalties,” Conte laughed. “Free kicks are fine, but when he stays behind after training and I watch him practice I think: if we ever get to penalties, everyone would have to die before letting him take one. He’s rubbish at them, worse than me when I played. Joking aside, he’s coming on leaps and bounds and has huge room for improvement. He might not read the game straightaway but he’s getting better at everything.” Even penalties.

Hakimi, now a PSG player, was born in Madrid but was convinced to switch nationality by Nasser Larguet, the former director of the Moroccan Football Federation. Spain tried to reclaim him but in vain and on Tuesday he eliminated them from the World Cup.

“My first memory of Achraf is when we organised a scouting camp in France with 14 young players with dual nationality (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands) and 24 young players from Morocco. Achraf immediately stood out, mainly because of his speed and how good he was technically,” Larguet tells The Athletic.

“Me and our scout Rabie Takassa convinced him to switch to Morocco. The only full-back we had at the time was Nabil Dirar and me and Rabie believed, if Achraf continued to progress with his club and with our youth national teams, he would be the ideal replacement, while in Spain there were many others like him.

“Coaches from Spain’s junior teams tried to change his mind but Achraf kept his word and continued to play for Morocco’s youth team. Herve Renard was Morocco’s manager at the time and he was aware of Achraf’s potential. Herve gave Achraf his debut with the senior team when he was 19. Now for Morocco he has played in three Africa Cup of Nations and two World Cups.”

Sofiane Boufal: ‘He makes the difference now’

Sofiane Boufal has started all four of Morocco’s World Cup fixtures and is showing a level of consistency that Southampton supporters will pine for.

Boufal joined the Premier League club in 2016 in a £16million deal and left four years later after only managing to translate his undoubted skill and craft on the ball in moments that were few and far between.

“I signed Sofiane because he had the qualities and attributes to dribble, to give his best and he can beat his man all the time,” Claude Puel, his manager at Southampton, tells The Athletic. “We saw this when Morocco beat Spain. It is important when you have a player like him in the team that he gets on the ball, because he can make a difference and find a solution.”

As Puel points out, though, it was not always plain sailing with Boufal.

“I tried all the time to develop him,” he added. “When you saw the quality in training and what he can give with the ball, it was a pity (that it did not work out at Southampton). He can play in different styles, whether it is one-touch or combining with his team-mates. But his consistency is up and down and it is difficult.

“At the beginning when he started in the Premier League it was difficult for him because he didn’t have the ability to play to his physical strengths. He would look to the referee a lot and they wouldn’t make anything of him being tackled.

“Against Spain, we saw a different player. He showed he can now resist tackles, while having the pace, strength, power and ability to make a difference in his duels. He makes the difference now.”

Boufal is fondly remembered for his standout solo effort against West Brom in October 2017, which saw him win Southampton’s Goal of the Decade competition. Boufal made 84 appearances for Southampton, scoring five times, and joined French club Angers in 2020 after the Premier league side cut their losses.

Puel, who managed Saint-Etienne in France when Boufal made the switch, had a conversation with the 29-year-old when they met again and believes this World Cup could lead to the playmaker returning to the top table.

“I think he was in a good place with a good mentality and had more maturity,” Puel continued. “He has changed a lot and I hope he can now find more possibilities for the future and it would be great to see him at a high level because he has the qualities and attributes to play there.

“He is a better player now than when he was at Southampton.”

Non-European/S American teams making SF

COUNTRY WORLD CUP HOW THEY GOT ON

USA

1930

Lost 1-6 to Argentina

South Korea

2002

Lost 0-1 to Germany

Sofyan Amrabat: ‘The biggest surprise of my life’

Sofyan Amrabat’s old coach, the death metal aficionado Ivan Juric, once called him “the biggest surprise of my life.” He didn’t know what to make of Amrabat when Hellas Verona’s sporting director Tony D’Amico signed him. Amrabat was barely playing in the Jupiler League. He couldn’t get off the bench at Club Brugge.

What chance did he have in Serie A?

But he was a revelation. “He’s an incredibly intelligent player,” Juric said. “He didn’t seem that way to begin with. He didn’t know any Italian. We all thought he was one of those physical midfielders. Instead, he showed himself to be of great tactical value.”

Within four months of him playing in Italy, Fiorentina’s relatively new owner Rocco Commisso rushed to splash €20m on him. Amrabat flopped and lost his place to Lucas Torreira, on loan from Arsenal. When a permanent deal couldn’t be agreed with the Gunners over the summer and Torreira was returned to sender, Amrabat seized his opportunity and has shown flashes of the player who surprised Juric.

“He’s continuing to play at a high level,” Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano said at the club’s Christmas party earlier this week. “Maybe someone made sure he was well-prepared,” he winked. The 26-year-old has been one of the midfielders of the tournament.

Bono: born in Montreal with a dog named after Ortega

“In this situation, you don’t really take on board what you have achieved,” said Morocco goalkeeper Bono after his team had eliminated Spain from the World Cup in last Monday’s last 16 game. “But I’m happy. Maybe as the days pass we’ll realise what we’ve just done.”

This was a typically humble and understated perspective from Yassine Bounou, whose career has taken a long time to reach the national-hero status earned by three saves in the penalty shootout to push Morocco into a first-ever World Cup quarter-final.

Like many of this Morocco squad, Bono has an immigrant story, but his is quite different. He was born in 1991 in Montreal, where his father taught physics at a university, but the family returned to Casablanca when little Yassine was three years old.

He grew up playing football on the streets, to the disapproval of his middle-class parents. By the age of 20 he had kept goal in an African Champions League final for Wydad Casablanca. He soon clinched a move to Atletico Madrid — but never played a first-team game for them, saying later that he had found it difficult to believe he would really be good enough.

Following an inconsistent spell on loan at Segunda Division side Real Zaragoza, he joined Girona on a free transfer, helping them to get promoted to La Liga in 2017. He was a member of Morocco’s squad at World Cup 2018, but the starter was Munir Mohamed.

After joining Sevilla initially on loan in 2019, Bono was again a back-up until an injury to Czech No 1 Tomas Vaclik brought a chance in the final stages of the 2020 Europa League. He was outstanding as Julen Lopetegui’s side won the trophy, including a crucial penalty save to deny Wolves’ Raul Jimenez in the quarter-finals.

That earned him a starting spot, and the boost to his confidence pushed him to a higher level. Consistency over 2021-22 saw him win the Zamora award for La Liga’s best goalkeeper.

The high-profile heroics at this World Cup have led to Andalusian press reports of Premier League interest. But Bono himself might prefer a different move. He is a River Plate fan, with a dog called Ariel, named after ex-Argentina playmaker Ariel Ortega.

Hakim Ziyech: ‘When you give him love and confidence, he will die for you’

According to Morocco coach Regregui, there isn’t some complex tactical solution to maximising Hakim Ziyech. His approach since taking over as national team boss in September has been based on something far simpler.

“A lot of people talk about Hakim as a difficult guy to work with, but I see it differently — when you give him love and confidence, he will die for you,” Regragui said last month. “This is what I give him and he gives me back my confidence.”

Regragui’s love has so far been repaid with an assist in a 2-0 win over Belgium and a brilliant first-time chip to score against Canada in the group stage, punctuating a series of consistently selfless performances for a team that has based its shock success at this World Cup on its iron-clad defence.

It has capped a remarkable personal turnaround for Ziyech, who retired from Morocco duty aged 28 in February after being left out of the national team squad for the Africa Cup of Nations by Regragui’s predecessor Vahid Halilhodzic.

Halilhodzic didn’t show Ziyech love, instead accusing him of feigning injury to get out of playing in Morocco friendlies and questioning his leadership skills. There has been a similar level of tumult in the winger’s Chelsea career, though a happy ending appears far less likely for him at Stamford Bridge.

Ziyech had made his name at Ajax with a combination of artistry and industry, earning the nickname “The Wizard of Amsterdam” for his style and skill while fitting seamlessly into Erik ten Hag’s pressing system. That is the player Frank Lampard wanted him to be on the right of attack in Chelsea’s 4-3-3, and the signs were initially promising.

Lampard’s sacking and replacement by Thomas Tuchel changed everything. Despite scoring one or two important goals towards the end of the 2020-21 season Ziyech never looked at home in the German’s more tightly structured 3-4-2-1 system, and certainly never felt the love of the new coach.

Ziyech and good friend Romelu Lukaku bonded in part over their shared disconnect with Tuchel. Graham Potter’s arrival could have offered the chance for a new start, but the feeling now is that both Ziyech and Chelsea would benefit from a parting of ways. His heroics with Morocco do at least offer a reminder of what he can still do when he feels truly valued.

Nayef Aguerd: ‘He took a risk and it’s the best decision he made’

One of Regragui’s main injury concerns after the defeat over Spain is the fitness of Nayef Aguerd, who he hopes will be fit again to continue in the team against Portugal.

Aguerd’s journey to the World Cup has not been easy. When the West Ham United defender was 15, he made a decision that would change the course of his career. Nasser Larguet, the former director for Morocco’s prestigious Mohammed VI Football Academy, was set to take training when the West Ham United defender informed him he was keen to try his luck in a new position.

“Nayef was 12 when I recruited him for the academy,” Larguet tells The Athletic. “He was so grateful for the opportunity but when Nayef was 14, he went through a phase where he struggled. I warned him on two occasions that if he doesn’t improve, he will lose his place in the academy. It was a test to see how he would respond. He was good technically but I pushed him hard because I knew he could be even better.

“At the time, Nayef was a No 10 but we had so many attacking midfielders. One day before training he pulled me aside and said, ‘If I want to make it as a professional, I need to change my position’. I was so surprised and he said, ‘Coach, we have so many good midfielders but we don’t have many defenders. I can stand out more from that position’. He was 15 and this happened 12 months after I warned him about his place in the academy. He took a risk and it’s the best decision he made.”

Aguerd, who joined West Ham from French side Rennes in June, has played in a key role in Morocco reaching the quarter-final of the World. He impressed in the goalless draw against Croatia and the 2-0 win against Belgium. Despite scoring an own goal against Canada, he bounced back against Spain and Morocco’s defence restricted their attack to one shot on target.

“I haven’t been surprised with his performances, says Larguet. “He’s an intelligent defender. He doesn’t complicate things, he is very good in the air, good in duels and playing from the back. I’m still in touch with the manager, Nayef and Achraf and I congratulated them on reaching the quarter-finals.

“The win against Spain was big for our country. We need to regain our place in the international game. When you have success stories like Nayef, Achraf and others it shows what you can achieve when you put a well-thought-out project in place with a vision, a strategy and realistic and achievable targets.”

Roman Saiss: ‘I’m sure we’ve missed him at Wolves’

Another key figure in Morocco’s passage to the last eight is Romain Saiss, who has led from the front — or, to be precise, from the back. It is a position that he has occupied for a while for his country, but which he moved into during his time in the Premier League with Wolves.

“I wasn’t sure what his best position was,” says Carl Ikeme, who was in goal when Saiss made his Wolves debut in the Championship in a 2-0 victory at Newcastle. “I knew he played at centre-half for Morocco but he was a better option for us in midfield at the time because he had such good qualities.

“He had real quality and he came in as a midfielder initially. We knew he could play at the back and he did drop in for a few games. He was really committed, was a good talker and really passionate as well.”

As one of Fosun’s first Wolves signings, Saiss made just 19 starts in the 2016-17 season as Wolves limped to 15th in the Championship under Walter Zenga and Paul Lambert. But it was under Nuno Espirito Santo, who arrived in the summer of 2017, that Saiss established himself as a key figure in the team, first in midfield and later in Nuno’s famed central defensive trio.

He figured in 42 of the 46 Championship games, starting in 37, as Wolves won the second tier in Nuno’s first season and went on to make 110 Premier League appearances across four seasons, scoring nine times.

Saiss also became an increasingly influential figure in the Molineux dressing room, having moved to the Midlands following five years in France — the country of his birth — most of which were spent in the country’s second tier.

Along with captain Conor Coady, goalkeeper John Ruddy, midfielder Ruben Neves and others, Saiss formed a strong leadership group that underpinned the club’s success under Nuno. He left on a free transfer in the summer to join Besiktas.

“It’s important to have a good dynamic and I think he’s probably someone that is even still missed at the club,” says Ikeme. “I’m sure we’ve missed him at Wolves quite a bit because he has got that gritty character to really get you through games. He is a leader like Conor Coady was and Ruben Neves is and there was no doubt in my mind from early on, even though we were in the Championship, that he could play in the Premier League.

“I remember a game away at Middlesbrough when he nearly collapsed at the end because he’d put such a shift in.”

(Contributors: Charlotte Harpur, James Horncastle, Dan Sheldon, Dermot Corrigan, Liam Twomey, Roshane Thomas, Steve Madeley)

(Top photo by Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images)