Morocco have their eyes set on making history by becoming the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals as they prepare to take on Portugal in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

After a surprising run that saw them finish first in Group F with wins over Belgium and Canada and then stun Spain on penalties in the round of 16, Walid Regragui’s Moroccans are in uncharted territory.

The Atlas Lions join Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002), and Ghana (2010) as the only other African teams to advance to the quarter-finals.

It’s likely that the crowd at Al Thumama Stadium will be mostly in favor of Morocco, as they have been for all of their games in Qatar.

“I think it’s impossible for us to do this without the fans,” said coach Regragui after knocking out Spain.

“A lot of fans came to Qatar from a lot of countries — America, Europe, Morocco.

“They love their country and what I can tell them is this — we can do nothing without them, I need them for the quarters and, hopefully, we’ll make history.

“Why not aim for the sky? We needed to change and we needed to change our mentality.

“We’re not going to stop here. We’re going to respect every opponent. But we are going to be very difficult opponents. So why not dream about lifting that trophy?

“Since the start of the competition, we’ve been playing with a team that’s not 100 percent, that’s why it’s even more extraordinary.

“We’ve managed to create a family, and we feel that we have a people behind us.”

Photo by EPA/Mohamed Messara