Morocco fans celebrate the impossible and ask for more

As their national team made history, crowds gathered in Casablanca on Saturday evening and chanted "Qualified! Qualified!"

There were also celebrations across the Arab world and in Europe after Morocco beat Portugal 1-0 in Qatar to become the first African or Arab team to reach a World Cup semi-final.

"My heart will stop, what a team, what stamina, what an achievement," Ilham El Idrissi, a 34-year-old Casablanca woman, told AFP.

She was not alone in hailing the team known as the Atlas Lions who will face defending champions France for a place in the final.

"I think I am dreaming awake. Pinch me! What a huge pride. I thank them from the bottom of my heart," said Mouad Khairat, 29, an executive in a call centre.

"The Moroccan team has managed to do the impossible. We want the cup now."

The collective celebrations that greeted the final whistle are becoming a habit across the kingdom.

Morocco topped their group, beating Canada and Belgium and then eliminated Spain on penalties in the round of 16 before overcoming Portugal.

"There is no such thing as impossible in soccer, that's the magic of this sport", former Moroccan international Abderrazak Khairi told AFP.

Khairi scored twice in the surprise 3-1 victory over the same opponents, Portugal, in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, when Morocco became the first African nation to reach the knockout rounds.

No African or Arab country had managed to go beyond the quarter-finals. Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 came closest to reaching the final four of the most prestigious tournament.

"The Moroccan team has managed to do the impossible. We want the cup now," said Ali Gyme, 24.

In Casablanca, the temple of Moroccan football, the shirts of the national team and the red