B.C. soccer fans await Morocco’s historic semifinal match against France at FIFA World Cup | CBC News

Like many of his fellow Moroccan Canadians, Khalid Arriani of Kelowna, B.C., is proud the national soccer team from his country of origin has finally made it to a FIFA World Cup semifinal.

The team is facing off against France later today for a chance to play against Argentina for the championship.

“That’s amazing [for Morocco being] the first African and Arab team to reach the semifinals — it’s quite an achievement,” Arriani said.

The North African nation has played in five World Cups but never come this close to victory.

Other African teams, including Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana, have all made it to the quarter-finals, but none have advanced to the finals or semifinals, which are typically dominated by European or Latin American teams.

The result is people from both African and Middle Eastern countries are uniting behind Morocco.

Arriani was born in Casablanca and came to Canada two decades ago. As an avid soccer watcher and player, he says his family and friends in Canada and Morocco are all excited about the semifinal match with France and wish the best for Team Morocco.

“We support them to go even further, and yeah, why not get the cup? It’s a dream, but it’s doable.”

Morocco defeated Canada and Belgium in the group stage and later beat Spain during the round of 16 and Portugal in the quarter-finals.

Arriani’s optimism was shared by the French-born Moroccan head coach Walid Regragui, who said at a news conference on Tuesday that his team is aiming for the championship.

But conquering France will be difficult — and the team has plenty of its own fans.

Super tight game expected for Morocco and France

Kelowna resident and soccer fan Dan Isidoro was born and raised in France and came to Canada as a teenager decades ago. As a longtime soccer player and FIFA World Cup watcher, he says he has never thought of Morocco as a challenger to France until this year.

Isidoro says he’s confident that France will be able to reach and win the championship, just as it did in 1998 and 2018, but before that, it will have to fight a tough battle with Morocco.

“I truly believe it’s going to be a super tight game — I can see it going into extra time,” he said.

Isidoro says Team France is very good in the midfield, but to beat Morocco, it needs to strengthen its defence.

Despite their differing views on which team will come out as the champion, Arriani and Isidoro have one thing in common: they both lament Canada being eliminated in the group stage. 

“I was really disappointed they didn’t win, especially the game against Belgium,” Arriani said.

But they hope Canada can qualify for the next FIFA World Cup.

“This Canadian team is talented,” Isidoro said. “I do truly, honestly believe this team, in 2026, will turn heads and will surprise a lot of people.”