Rabat / Doha: Moroccans in Qatar for their team's World Cup semi final against France on Wednesday were struggling to find tickets, while excitement built back home even as some were left stranded when extra flights to Doha were scrapped.
Morocco's football success, the best World Cup run by a team from Africa or the Arab world, has been cheered from Baghdad to Bamako during the first World Cup hosted by an Arab state, with wins notched up against top European sides, like Spain and Portugal.
Thousands of Moroccans have flown into Doha, many from Morocco and others from the diaspora in the Gulf and beyond, helping fill stadiums with national colours of red and green.
Arab and African supporters have swelled their ranks, as Morocco prepares to play against France, a two-times World Cup winner, Morocco's former coloniser and home to many Moroccans.
At other Morocco matches, ticketless fans crowded outside the stadium, sometimes blocking the entrance for others and sparking scuffles with police and other fans.
Moroccans arriving overnight on extra flights said they had expected to get tickets on arrival, but with hours to go they still did not know if they would get them.
"Ninety-five percent of people on the plane didn't have a ticket," said Mohammed, a Moroccan fan outside Al Janoub stadium in Qatar, where he waited for the match with his wife and three children.
Mohammed Amzil, 30 and Mehdi Gandouze, 25, both Moroccans living in Doha, queued all night outside the stadium and said any free tickets they saw handed out were given to women.
"We spent the night here and the end of the day and we didn't get anything," Amzil said, adding that he had seen sporadic fights between some of those waiting.
Some were left frustrated back in Morocco, after Royal Air Maroc said overnight that seven flights had been cancelled - half the extra flights that had been expected to fly.
In Morocco, excitement was building before kick off. Flags fluttered from homes and buildings in an outpouring of national pride. School children in Rabat chanted soccer anthems.
In France, Tarek Idrissi, 31-year-old national of Morocco and France, was preparing to watch the match at his father's home outside Paris.
"Football is from the heart and guts and I am 200% behind Morocco," he said, promising to join other Moroccan fans celebrating on the Champs Elysee in Paris if Morocco wins.
French President Emmanuel Macron is due to attend the game.
Before now, no Arab country has progressed to a quarter final and no African country has reached a semi-final.
"I feel so excited that Morocco is still in the race to lift the World Cup. It will be a privilege for Africa," said Aureline Meli, 24, a management assistant in Cameroon's capital Yaounde.
After beating Portugal on Saturday, congratulations poured in from African and Arab presidents, prime ministers and sporting legends.
In Rabat, billboards were pasted with pictures of individual players or the whole team, now hot property for advertisers of everything from banks to telecom companies. In the old city, street vendors carried armfuls of memorabilia for sale.
Cafes in Rabat removed tables to fit in more seats to watch the game. One cafe was selling places inside to customers.
A bus driver who was supposed to be driving 500 km (300 miles) from Rabat to the city of Nador on Wednesday said he would now leave on Thursday instead.
"I am delaying my departure until tomorrow to be able to enjoy the match," he said, asking that his name was not published so his employer did not get angry with him.
Source: Reuters
