Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Activists on social media circulated a tweet of congratulations published by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Moroccan national team’s victory over its Portuguese counterpart in the 2022 World Cup, amid interaction.
Erdogan said in his tweet: “I congratulate from the bottom of my heart the Moroccan national team, which is the first African team to achieve the achievement of reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup, and I also congratulate all our Moroccan brothers on this achievement.”
The most prominent activists highlighted the Turkish president’s refusal to describe the Moroccan national team as or an Arab national team, and to use it as “the first African national team.”
The Moroccan national team defeated the Portuguese national team with a free goal, in a confrontation that was held on the grounds of Al-Thumama Stadium, on Saturday evening, in the quarter-final competitions in the 2022 World Cup finals, and the goal of the “Atlas Lions” team came with a header by Youssef Al-Nusairi at the 42nd minute of the first half.
The Moroccan national team qualified for the semi-finals for the first time in the history of its participation in the largest football tournament, as it had never achieved this before. It became the first Arab and African team to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals.