Chapter 109
The History Makers
Just the day before the second Semi-Final game, Argentina would secure their place for the final in Melbourne after thrashing Croatia 3-0 which meant that for the English support, the prospect of a battle with Argentina in the final to fight it out for the World Cup was looking to be a major battle in this unique intercontinental rivalry with memories of 1990 and 2002 still very much on the mind of many. However, standing in England's way to the final was Morocco and on paper this looked to be the best possible opponent that England could have gotten as in many years prior, England would have walked over any Moroccan team hands down though this was not any ordinary Moroccan team, this was a Moroccan team that had gotten the better of Spain and Portugal to get this far becoming only the second African side to reach the last four since Senegal did just over twenty years ago then and now were hoping to go to a place where no African team had been before...the final.
At every World Cup there is always a underdog side that becomes the neutral's favourite team who they'd want to see do well and for this World Cup, that honour lay with Morocco who had punched above their weight to get this far by winning their group and sending the much fancied Belgians sent home in disgrace and after taking care of both Spain and Portugal, they remained now the last African side or non-European or South American side left in the World Cup so it was little wonder why pretty much most of the world were all rooting for Morocco to get to the final and it would mean that England would have to play the pantomime villains to prevent the dream from happening though after how they managed to get the better of France in the previous game, they felt great confidence going into this game.
In Sydney, there was a mass army of English supporters who were all hoping the Three Lions would move into the final yet on the other, there was an estimated thirty thousand Moroccan supporters were there in Sydney to support the Atlas Lions to go all the way. Lions vs Lions; an unlikely type of Semi-final one could get but in this in this World Cup that had seen a number of strange results, this just seemed rather something to expect. That all being said England were seen as the slight favourites given how they had recent made a final the previous year which had ended in heartbreak, the English players were hoping to avoid such another fate yet inside the stadium despite a healthy English support in the ground, it seemed that the Atlas Lions' supporters were willing to give the English support a run for their money.
Lions in the stands in Sydney
After some passionate singing of the national anthems from the supporters which also included a great deal of tension in the ground of the perhaps of the weight of history in the ground. Tt is England who get the first kick of the game with many boos and whistles for Harry Kane he gets the ball on England's wing. Not because he's done anything wrong, just because this stadium is full of Morocco fans making a right din and it is quite a fierce atmosphere aimed at England that honestly is a rare thing for them unless they are playing the other Home Nations and if that doesn't give the English players any idea of how much the Moroccan supporters want to win the game not just for them but for a whole
continent in which no doubt will all be backing them to win.
Morocco seem to thrive on the atmosphere with much of the early moments of the game looking like they have it all in their hands with England struggling. However, England manage to somehow to get their act together and begin to try and thread some passes together. Then in the fifth minute, the Moroccan feel good factor takes a blow. Saka runs down the right and cuts it back to Kane who has a couple of cracks at shooting and his effort is deflected into the path of Foden who scores a very acrobatic volley from a tight angle and with that, England had gotten the breakthrough and it is a disastrous start for Morocco. It was poor defending, which is very unlike them given how tight they have been with this only being the second time they have coincided at this World Cup.
This is unknown territory for Morocco now, not just being in a World Cup semi-final but being behind. Their success in Australia has come from a solid defence and then taking their chances. They have to score now and get back on level terms with England sooner rather than later but that all being said, that goal has silenced the Moroccan supporters - they could not have asked for a worse start with the English supporters now making all the noise but this isn't for too long as the chants, the whistles and the drumming starts again. Gareth Southgate cuts a calm figure on the touchline though no doubt will be pleased of how things have gone well for England so far yet knows that getting a second goal will be important though now it is a question of 'when' rather than 'if'.
Some glum Moroccan players following that opening goal from England
However, England get too comfy too soon and this doesn't go unnoticed by the Moroccan players who start making some counter attacks in which leads to a moment in the eleventh minute with Morocco getting their first chance on target with it being lovely hit by Azzedine Ounahi who has a crack from about twenty-five yards with it looking like a nice curl on it but it's clawed away by the diving Jordon Pickford in goal. If that isn't a warning for England then nothing will and the English supporters likely all feel a sense of this early lead being too good to be true. Three minutes later, Morocco win a free kick which he gets into the box yet it is cleared away by Kyle Walker however England are suddenly rocking and panic seems to be gripping the English backline.
Then in the seventeenth minute, disaster strikes for England. Sofiane Boufal wins the ball in the centre circle and beats a couple of English defenders and carry the ball thirty yards before feeding Hakim Ziyech who with just the right amount of concentration, fires it into the bottom left of the English net in which Pickford dives yet fails to get his hands on it and to his and much of his countrymen's horror, Morocco have gotten themselves back on level terms and there is a explosion of nose from the Moroccan fans who pretty much now control the atmosphere in the stands while the English support look on with glum faces at what has happened. In truth though, Morocco have held their nerve and deserve to be back in the game and now comes the test to see if England can make a response to this sudden setback.
However, a minute later after the restart with England get the game going again, they stun everyone with a quickfire move as from out of nowhere England are almost 2-1 up. Raheem Sterling races onto a long ball forward and hammers a shot off the post from the edge of the box as Bono looked beaten but he and many others across Morocco likely all feel a sigh a relief that it hasn't gone in with Sterling holding his face in his hands over such a miss that could have given his team a much needed boost. However, he might have not been able to make that move at all had Morocco's captain Romain Saiss been able to stop him as it becomes clear that the captain is struggling with an injury that he is carrying as he was beaten way to easily by Sterling.
Kyle Walker following Morocco's sudden equaliser
Saiss' lacklustre performance hasn't gone unnoticed by the Moroccan bench and now look as though they will have to make a change in the twenty-first minute with Selim Amallah coming on to replaces Saiss and even if Morocco were to reach the final, there is no guarantee that Saiss will be playing in the final and to make matters worse for Morocco, that backline is inexperienced and could be exploited if England could probe it more. That being said, Morocco are now keeping it together and trying to contain England from coming out. Then in the twenty-eighth minute, Morocco get a moment of attack from Sofiane Boufal who gets into the box and John Stones slides in. It's looks like a penalty though though oddly the referee seems willing to give a free-kick to the Three Lions and Boufal is booked as it was he who fouled Stones, who needs treatment, according to the officials.
It is utterly baffling as VAR is not called in and already theories of favouritism would be going through the minds of much of the Moroccan support thinking that FIFA would rather have England get into the final and not them. That said though, the Atlas Lions aren't going to let that get the better of them for there is one moment of attack from Morocco in the thirty-second minute which thanks to some good defending by defender Kyle Walker, he has to cut out Amallah's through ball to En-Nesyri. In the thirty-eighth minute, the pendulum swings again in which there is an English attack in which Henderson plays in Saka, whose shot is blocked and cleared off the line. The loose ball is played back to Kane, who shoots wide from near the penalty spot and anther chance is gone again for the Three Lions.
Kane can only look on in disbelief at how he has missed such a good chance for England to take the lead and even though they are getting chances, they can't seem to make any of them stick. That being said, it is such a end to end game in which both sides feel that they can win this though time is running out before the first half runs out. Then right on the forty-fifth minute, an incredible moment happens. Morocco win a corner as Maguire slides behind to deny Hakimi and gives the Atlas Lions a chance to make something of it and the Morocco corner is half-cleared out to El Yamiq, near the edge of the box, and he flies into the air and launches a remarkable bicycle-kick towards goal which Pickford tips onto the post to deny the Africans from taking the lead and honestly it should have gone in.
Pickford during the game before half time
Many Moroccan fans are reeling at just how close it was for them to take the lead and the English supporters breath a sign of relief that they are still in the game. As it turns out, the Atlas Lions seemed to smell fear in the water from the Three Lions and try and go in and strike right at the death. Sadly for them they are unable as England do just about enough to hold on to keep the game level as the first half ends 1-1. If anyone had thought England would be having an easy day at the office and on their way into the final, they have been made to look foolish for not only as Morocco taken the game to England but have had several moments in which they could have taken the lead and no one would have been shocked by it for England have looked ropey at times. As the players leave the field, Gareth Southgate will likely be thinking of what to do next...
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When the second half begins, there is a surprisingly situation in which Kane drops back to the midfield to create a 4-4-2 system which seems to be a way of trying to fix that ropey midfield that more often than not has proven itself can falter if probed which means that both Saka and Grealish (the latter having come on to replace Foden for the second half) now have to try and get the goals needed for England to try and go through. In fact, this new system nearly pays off just four minutes into the second half in which Kane plays a lovely through ball to Grealish but the substitute player forward can't quite get onto it and clatters Morocco keeper Bono with the follow-through. Not a bad effort but more needs to be done and that moment is far from the only moment in the game for Grealish.
In the fifty-second minute, Grealish goes on a lovely run down the left and Amrabat catches man and ball with a proper sliding tackle that sends the English player crash down on the pitch and roar of anger from the English supporters won't action, mostly when it is seen that he needs treatment. To everyone's stunned amazement, there is no booking or free-kick which seems utterly baffling as to why the referee didn't seem to act and the game goes on but that is the least of their worries as Morocco now start piling pressure on the English defence once again in which two minutes later, Boufal puts a great ball across the box which En-Nesyri can't reach. Moments later El-Nesryi is close to getting onto another ball, this time from the left and it is clear that England look to be hanging on here for dear life.
England fans watch on as the game isn't all going to plan.
By the sixtieth minute, England are stuck as Morocco keep bringing out wave after wave of attack and look by far the most likely to score and the Moroccan crowd seem to get more and more rowdier every time a Moroccan player gets close to Pickford's goal and now this is pretty much a test of England's resolve to weather this storm until they can make a move back into the game. A minute later though, Saka manages to break out of England's defence to try and go on the counter but it is a terribly timed run by means he's well offside from Jude Bellingham's pass. Nothing seems to be working for the Three Lions which means Southgate will have to make a change in which in the sixty-fifth minute, he brings on Mason Mount to replace Henderson as an attempt to try and add more fire power in midfield.
At the same time, Morocco striker En-Nesyri goes off for Hamdallah while there is also another change in which Boufal is replaced by Aboukhlal showing that both managers will want to try and freshen things up if one or the other will have the edge. At first, it seems, England seem to have the edge as the game enters the final twenty minutes when Engalnd goes in for the attack but the offside flag goes up against Bellingham. Earlier in the move, Mount looked like he was going to shoot from outside the box but passed instead before a bit of pinball in the box. Then just two minutes later, another chance for England in which Kane whips in a free-kick which Saka getting his head onto the ball but sadly for him he only succeeds in heading it wide.
Then in the seventy-sixth minute, the roof caves in at last. Hamdallah takes on much of the English back line in which neither of them seem to stop him and the Moroccan fans rise to their feet and voice as he finds himself in a shooting position and as John Stones tries to stop him but Hamdallah decides to risk it by firing into the bottom right of the net in which Pickford tries to dive on it but the ball just misses his fingertips and the ball slots into the back of the net and just like that, Morocco have turned the game around and are leading 2-1 and are now less than fifteen minutes away from making history by becoming the first African team from reaching a World Cup final and while in all honesty no one will argue that they didn't deserve to be in front, England now have to come out and try and save themselves from another Iceland moment...
Hamdallah; the man who put Morocco in front seen here just before his goal
As it turns out, the goal really lights a fire under the English players who go all out to try and rescue themselves in which in the seventy-ninth minute, there is a great chance when Kane jinks through in the box and a shot which is deflected into the path of Grealish, six yards out and surely the quickfire equaliser for England...but to the utter horror for every England fan in what is a true 'ARGH!' moment of the World Cup, he loses his concentration and accidently knocks it just wide of the post in which the image of many Englishmen with their hands on their head on both the pitch, the stands and the England bench says it all and poor Grealish as the look of a man who just wants the ground to swallow him whole on what has been for him just a day of bad luck for him and one that he knows if England loses will never hear the end of.
It is a miss that is up there with the likes of Yakubu's infamous miss for Nigeria in 2010 but none of the Three Lions will have time to think about that as now their heads are starting to go as they go all out trying in anyway they can to find any goal that might help them drag the game into extra-time. In the eighty-sixth minute however, Morocco win a free kick with the hope and getting the killer third goal to kill the game off for good however Ziyech's free-kick into the box is cleared and England try and make it up the field again in what is looking like a doomed mission to save this game. When it it is seen that there will be six minutes of added time, that surely is last chance saloon for England to make a dramatic turnaround in the game's closing minutes.
However, Morocco know that they are there and all they have to do is simply kick out every attempt England try to make to get into the box and the game seems to go fast for England who try everything they know to win the game yet despite all their efforts and the amount of time they have to get a goal or two back, Morocco are the team in the end who hold their nerve and as the referee's whistle blows for the final time, a roar of utter joy from the thousands of Moroccan fans up in the stands is deafening in which one can't hear anything as history has been made; Morocco are the history makers by becoming the first ever African team to play in a final and will face Argentina in the final in a few days time and in truth, they were always neutral's choice to go all the way and sadly no one seems to care about England's defeat.
An image that really says it all following the final whistle
For the Three Lions, it is a calamity as the best possible chance to reach a final has been blown and likely they'll never get an easier chance like this again even if in all truth Morocco did deserve the victory and were the team that everyone outside of England wanted to get to the final. The English press lay into the team with perhaps Grealish, often said to be something of a folk hero among the English support, getting a lot of stick for that miss that will no doubt haunt him for the rest of his days and likely will be of some karmic joy for the Irish over the history of his allegiances but that is another story. However, things don't go better for either the Three or Atlas Lions in their final games for a shellshocked England loses 2-1 to a aging Croatia side while Morocco despite having most of their world at their back sadly lose out to Argentina in extra-time which many will say is one of, if not, the greatest finals ever played.
But as the World Cup Down Under comes to an end, it is a time of reflection for all the Home Nations for how far they have come. No doubt that when Argentina and Morocco were battling it out that incredible final, there was a likely chance that an English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish football supporter was reflecting on famous moments that they might remember from decades ago. Perhaps the first time the Home Nations played at a World Cup in 1950 when England and Scotland flew the flag for Britain and both went home pretty quickly, maybe Wales's shock run to the final in 1962 only to lose out to Brazil, those classic all British finals in 1966 and 1996 come to mind for many, maybe England's World Cup victories in that time, also perhaps Scotland, Wales and Ireland's (then Northern Ireland) European glory over the years all just to name a few.
Even without that, the highs and lows of the Home Nations have done much for the domestic games from the creation of the Premier League in England, the collapse of the Old Firm's power grip in Scotland, the formation of a Welsh league in the 1980's which saw the Welsh game never looking back or more recently the reunification of the Irish football system that while still in its early days and some elements of sadly some sectarian trouble, has shown that football on the emerald isle looks to be on the up. Who knows what the future lies for the Home Nations but in 2024, the Euros will head to Germany and in 2026, the first ever forty-eight team World Cup will take place in 2026 and all four Home Nations will be hoping to not only qualify but aim for glory. Football is never ending and with them, there will always be much for all to play for.
The End (For Now)
Final results of the 2022 World Cup
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Well then, after all that work, this massive redux, likely the biggest football TL ever on these forums has finally come to its end at least until for next year. I just want to say that when I first started the original timeline back in the day, I was just starting out and was inspired by the time by @Ruperto Pesto back in the day in which after learning about a few things from him such as wiki box changes, I never looked back and here we are today. I know some would say that it might have been stupid to start all over again when I did the last TL but you have to remember by that point, I had improved and looking back on the earlier work, it was fair to say much could be improved but rather than go back and try and edit everything before was that it was easier to start all over again as it would mean that I could fit in the 1950 WC which you'll remember is the POD of the TL which I didn't include in the previous TL other than just a mention so likely it was better to do it here.
It also meant that not only could I tweak things of what teams would be there and several tournaments that I didn't include but also fix some glaring continuity issues and other such elements that all led to the point that a redux was the only way to sort everything out, plus it did mean that I didn't want to make it a wank British football TL all that much as I could have quite easily have done two more all British finals for 2018 and 2020 here but held off as that would have been too easy plus I have to be friendly to other nations who'd likely want some silverware of their own. Anyway, while this TL might not see any serious updates until the next tournament is done, you will see some more things done for the TL such as an update on the domestic scene of British football of the teams we have playing in the leagues as of 2023 though I'm not sure when that'll be as I will be wanting a wee rest for the time being.
But most of all, I want to thank all of you who have stuck by me to following this TL either from the original TL or this one as you have been the motivation that has kept me going in which if not, I would have gotten a writer's block or given up on some a niche TL to many on here plus I'm happy to say that since this TL first came out, in that time there have been more more football TL's that have all come out in which many of you will say that this was the inspiration for starting them which I'm flattered by and that if this meant something for you then that makes me happy that I did something good. So yeah, I won't reboot this TL (again!) when we get to next year as I'm not writing it all out again and I'm pretty happy with it for the most part plus I don't think I'll be able to make a TL so vast like this ever again.
In the meantime though, I'll be able to now focus all my attention on my Beatles TL called 'The Fingerprints Of Epstein' which you can find in the sig below for the link which will be a new challenge for me writing style compared to ATPF so you can follow that if you like. Anyway, before I leave you, please tell me some of your favourite tournaments or moments from this TL and how would you have felt to live in a TL in which the Home Nations were actually good? I think you know what I'd say, haha. Anyway, I thank you all for following this TL right to the end and until I'll bring the TL back after Euro 2024, I'll see you all when that day comes, thank you and God bless all of you good people. 
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