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.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The view from The National
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Mountain%20Boy
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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.
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
