Arabs can still celebrate defeating 2022 world champions

It has not yet been decided if Argentina's Lionel Messi will achieve a long-awaited dream or if France's Kylian Mbappe will win his second World Cup before 24-years-old.

But regardless of the result in the World Cup final on Sunday, Qatar National Day, Arabs can celebrate their best result in World Cup history, as two teams gained bragging rights of defeating both the 2022 world champions and runner-up.

Morocco exceeded all expectations and became the first Arab and African team to reach a World Cup semi-final after three wins and overthrowing giants Belgium, Spain and Portugal, before stumbling against the defending champions France.

Morocco's fairytale campaign ended on Saturday, with a 2-1 loss to Croatia in third-place playoff.

"If someone had told me before the tournament that we would play seven matches in Qatar, we would have been happy," Morocco coach Walid Regragui told BeIN Sports.

"All Moroccan, African and Arab people have seen how this team fought and wanted to make the country happy ... We will try to return after four years," added the 47-year-old coach, who only took charge in August.

Morocco defeated second-ranked Belgium, stunned 2010 champions Spain in a penalty shootout in the last 16, and continued their impressive run with a 1-0 win against 2016 European champions Portugal.

But positive results were not limited to the Atlas Lions.

Though Morocco was the only Arab nation to pass the group stage, even the exit of Saudi Arabia and Tunisia came after two shock wins.

Saudi Shock

The exception was Qatar, who became the second host nation to exit from the first round after South Africa in 2010.

Saudi Arabia achieved one of the biggest ever surprises in World Cup history, when they came back from behind to win 2-1 against Argentina, who took the lead through Messi's penalty.

As for Tunisia, they defeated France, albeit the Europeans had a reshuffled lineup with Mbappe only coming on as a substitute.

"The Tunisian national team's victory over France will be in history books," said Khalil Belhaj, a 41-year-old Tunisian fan.

"However, Tunisia's victory over France remains a moral victory against a team who secured qualification and played with a reserve team."

Before the Qatar tournament finals, Arab teams had won 10 out of 73 matches, via eight different teams, while this time they achieved half that number again: five wins in 16 matches.

Arabs achieved their previous best results when Tunisia beat Mexico 3-1 in 1978, Algeria stunned West Germany 2-1 in 1982, Morocco defeated Portugal 3-1 in 1986, and Saudi Arabia beat Belgium 1-0 in 1994.

Along with Morocco, Arab teams were superbly supported at the Middle East's first World Cup.

It will take another four years to see if Arab teams can achieve similar results, but perhaps after FIFA's decision to increase the number of participating teams from 32 to 48, they will have a better chance when the United States, Canada and Mexico host the next edition in four year time.

(Reuters)