Thursday had been a long time coming for just about everyone heading into Boston Stadium.
After nearly a month of World Cup action, Boston’s slate of games was finally winding down as France faced off against Morocco in the quarter-finals. And spirits were high in the summer sun among Moroccan fans as the Atlas Lions prepared for a rematch of the 2022 World Cup semifinals against Les Bleus.
“It means everything,” said Ali Azzam, who came down from Montreal for the game. “Our team, we follow our team since the beginning. It’s a dream for them to be there … and we’re not scared of anyone. The best football’s gonna win.”
Unfortunately for Morocco and their fans, the best football was played by France as they cruised to a 2-0 victory. The French side is just one game away from reaching the World Cup final for the third time in a row.
It was the end to a strong slate of local World Cup games that saw some of the best players in the world come to Foxborough. And there was an eyebrow raising result or two along the way.
Ahead of the match, Moroccan fans in red, green and white filled the air with chants and the banging of drums. For a few hours, Patriot Place was like a Little Casablanca.
Jorge El Kharajafi was born and raised in Colombia, but his dad’s side of the family is from Morocco.
“But being here makes the whole experience full circle. It’s amazing,” he said. “Seeing all the people here, the Moroccans are the ones who are bringing the fire, you know, the attitude here.”
While maybe a little more reserved ahead of the game, the French fans were out in force, too.
Olivier Bezy is French but has been living in the States for the last 22 years. He was trying to get tickets ahead of the game but called it once in a lifetime to have the team play in the World Cup in America.
“You could not dream about it, like when you move to the United States, that you’ll get a chance to see [France] play the World Cup here,” Bezy said. “So that was phenomenal when they announced it.”
The game itself was pretty one-sided. French supernova Kylian Mbappé picked up his eighth goal of the tournament, followed shortly after in scoring by Ousmane Dembélé, who would probably have top billing on nearly any other team besides France. Both players are currently in the top five in goal scorers at this year’s tournament.
That duo will power a French machine that moves on to the next round as the World Cup leaves Boston. Now, we can all stop pretending to call Gillette Stadium something else to appease FIFA’s sponsorship gods. And for fans of France, they can start dreaming of what could be.
Jorge Gutierrez wore the jersey of French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane outside the stadium after the match. France is his team. And his expectations are high.
“I definitely think that they’re gonna win this World Cup, yeah,” he said.
