Frank Leboeuf’s remarks after the victory of the Atlas Lions against Belgium sparked a lively controversy in Morocco.
This is one of the nice surprises of this World Cup. After holding the shock against Croatia, Morocco caused a sensation this Sunday by offering the scalp of Belgium (2-0). A successful start, to say the least, which put Achraf Hakimi in an ideal position before their third match against Canada. A draw will be enough for them to reach the round of 16 and a defeat may not even be fatal depending on the result between Croatia and Belgium
Present on the set of ESPN, where he officiates as a consultant, Frank Leboeuf did not hide his joy at seeing Morocco upset the established order, claiming to have “Chills to imagine the happiness felt by his Moroccan friends”. “I am so happy for Morocco”, he launched. The rest of his remarks nonetheless caused controversy in Morocco. Blame it on his vision of Morocco, which is considered reductive and condescending to say the least.
“I think it may be difficult for people watching to put Morocco on a map. It is a small country, a poor country where many people are suffering,” remarks badly experienced by Moroccans. And the 98 world champion made another mistake, explaining in effect that “most of the players come from France and have dual nationality”. What applies to Tunisia does not apply to Morocco since only two Moroccan players present in Qatar actually have dual nationality: Romain Saïss and Sofiane Boufal. A mistake that also went wrong…
?️ Franck Leboeuf’s words full of bad faith and lies about Morocco. pic.twitter.com/xp7MfzvUvh
— KoraMaroc (@AtKoraMaroc) November 29, 2022
