After Morocco’s World Cup third-place play-off loss to Croatia, FIFA president Gianni Infantino was allegedly confronted by a desperate Achraf Hakimi.
According to reports, FIFA is attempting to conceal footage of Morocco star Achraf Hakimi confronting FIFA president Gianni Infantino following Morocco’s World Cup third-place play-off loss to Croatia.
Morocco, who stunned the tournament with their magical run to the semi-finals, were denied a bronze medal in Qatar after Croatia won at Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday thanks to goals from Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic. While they could have blamed themselves for a slew of missed opportunities, Morocco was enraged by the officiating in the tense match.
The Atlas Lions were enraged because they were denied a penalty for handball when striker Youssef En-header Nesyri’s hit Bruno Petkovic, only for replays to show the ball hit his back. Morocco were also irritated when Hakimi was brought down by the same Croatian forward, who was not booked as Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim waved play on.
Protests erupted on the field following the game, with Walid Regragui’s men allowing their emotions to get the best of them. Even after Hakimi left the field, FIFA’s much-maligned president felt his wrath. According to beIN Sports, the Paris Saint-Germain right-back pleaded with Infantino, who was waiting to hand Croatia their medals, in a ‘polite and desperate’ manner about the refereeing.
Although tensions were said to have eased when Hakimi’s teammates escorted him away, it has also been claimed that FIFA is attempting to prevent the footage from becoming public. “They wanted us to delete the images,” said SVT Sports reporter Johan Kucukaslan. “It’s clear that these are humiliating scenes for them, and it’s a little naive of them to think that a dozen journalists shouldn’t report on it when we see it happening.”
It’s not the first time Morocco has felt shortchanged, as they were left fuming at the referee during their 2-0 semi-final loss to France. The fact that FIFA has just awarded them the 2023 Club World Cup will likely do little to console them, though manager Regragui attempted to lift the nation’s spirits after their seven-game campaign, in which they defeated Belgium, Spain, and Portugal.
“We were given a 0.01 percent chance of making it to the final four before the tournament,” Morocco’s manager confirmed. “We are now one of the world’s top four teams, and if you told me that before the tournament, I would have taken it. Nothing would have changed in my opinion.
“Croatia is now one of the world’s top three teams, and they were slightly stronger than us, as was France, which is no small feat. We had to catch up and have spent the last ten years doing so. We also learned a lot from our games against Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. We’ve proven that we can compete with some of the best teams in the world.
“This should serve as an example for other African countries. It is in the DNA of European teams to advance to the final stages, and we must develop that in our DNA as well. Then we can win the World Cup one day.”