September 22, 2024

This is now Morocco’s World Cup.

Morocco #Morocco

Still, Morocco’s storybook run has millions of Arabs, Muslims and North Africans coalescing behind a single team in a way that this tournament has not seen.

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What is the World Cup? The quadrennial event pits the best national soccer teams against each other for the title of world champion. Here’s a primer to the 2022 men’s tournament:

Where is it being held? This year’s host is Qatar, which in 2010 beat the United States and Japan to win the right to hold the tournament. Whether that was an honest competition remains in dispute.

When is it? The tournament opened on Nov. 20, when Qatar played Ecuador. Over the two weeks that follow, four games will be played on most days. The tournament ends with the final on Dec. 18.

Is a winter World Cup normal? No. The World Cup usually takes place in July. But in 2015, FIFA concluded that the summer temperatures in Qatar might have unpleasant consequences and agreed to move the tournament to the relatively bearable months of November and December.

How many teams are competing? Thirty-two. Qatar qualified automatically as the host, and after years of matches, the other 31 teams earned the right to come and play. Meet the teams here.

How does the tournament work? The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four. In the opening stage, each team plays all the other teams in its group once. The top two finishers in each group advance to the round of 16. After that, the World Cup is a straight knockout tournament.

How can I watch the World Cup in the U.S.? The tournament will be broadcast on Fox and FS1 in English, and on Telemundo in Spanish. You can livestream it on Peacock, or on streaming services that carry Fox and FS1. Here’s how to watch every match.

When will the games take place? Qatar is three hours ahead of London, eight hours ahead of New York and 11 hours ahead of Los Angeles. That means there will be predawn kickoffs on the East Coast of the United States for some games, and midafternoon starts for 10 p.m. games in Qatar.

Got more questions? We’ve got more answers here.

That fanatical support was in full display inside the Al Thumama Stadium, which for 90 minutes (plus eight minutes of heart-stopping injury time) resembled a corner of Casablanca, Rabat or Marrakesh. Every period of Portuguese possession was met with ear-piercing whistles, and every Moroccan incursion the other way greeted with the type of boisterous cheering that threatened to pull the ball into the Portuguese net.

The next step of Morocco’s magical journey will come against France in a semifinal game Wednesday, setting the former colony against its former colonizer. But as Morocco celebrated Saturday’s victory, the result almost certainly meant the end of another era.

Ronaldo arrived in Qatar as one of the most famous people in the world, one of the best players to play soccer in any era. But at age 37, he arrived almost as an awkward tourist. He no longer played for a professional club, having been dumped by Manchester United. And his position in Portugal’s starting lineup, which he had gripped for nearly two decades, was tenuous. By the time Portugal reached the round of 16, he had lost it.

Against Switzerland, Ronaldo watched as his young replacement, Gonçalo Ramos, announced himself as an heir apparent, scoring a stunning three goals.

But against Morocco’s iron-willed defense, Ramos and the Portuguese wilted as the wall of whistles reached fever pitch and stayed there. Ronaldo entered the stage with 40 minutes left, a platform to produce one more heroic act, a final cinematic moment in a career filled with cinematic moments.

At the point of an attack that featured a line of four forwards in ever more desperate attempts to break Moroccan resistance, Ronaldo could not bend the World Cup to his will. He ran, he chased balls in behind, he leaped to get his head to balls, he tried to find shooting angles, everything and anything to break the redshirted Moroccan barrier.

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