As anticipation built in Morocco for the national team's historic World Cup quarter-final against Portugal, the inspirational stories of both the players and their coach were the talk of the town in Casablanca.
“We can see that members of this team have great communication and that their love for their nation is making them rise above any challenges,” Ibrahim, a taxi driver who was sporting a hat with national colours, told The National.
Mustapha Chedly, the most awarded goalkeeper in Morocco’s history and one of the trainers of the current team's goalkeepers, agreed that the communication between the Moroccan players was exceptional.
“Our goal was to train a young homogeneous team with great physical and technical capacities,” Chedly told The National.
“The group that you are seeing today was not the fruit of mere coincidence, it came after three consecutive years of hard work and betting on the players' pure love for their country.”
Chedly said he was not surprised by the team's outstanding performance so far.
“The tactical design of [national coach Walid] Regragui and the mental and physical preparation that the trainers have drawn up for the team all paid off,” he said.
With both quarter-finals on Friday decided by penalty shoot-outs, the importance of goalkeepers has come to the fore in this World Cup.
“You can’t reach the podium if you do not have a great goalkeeper,” Chedly said, speaking at the Number One cafe in Casablanca, which he owns and has named after the shirt number he sported while playing for Raja Club.
Like many Moroccans, Chedly sees today’s match as an opportunity to represent football in Africa and the Arab world in a new light, despite the difficult challenge the Portuguese team presents.
“With the great boost given to the team after the recent wins and the presence of a great audience to cheer for them in Qatar, we will hopefully write history,” Chedly said.
Many Moroccans are also counting on another factor Chedly has highlighted before.
“There’s no other love that could be as big as people’s love for their country, and with that love carried in their hearts, we trust that our kids will bring us happiness tonight,” said Ibrahim, the taxi driver.
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
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- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20Profile
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Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
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Price: From Dh149,900
The specs
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Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
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Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
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• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
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