Foxborough World Cup finale: Morocco aims to settle scores with France in quarterfinal

France’s rule in Morocco involved land takeovers, economic control and, at times, deadly clashes with local pro-independence fighters, Brahimi said. For Moroccans, that period is remembered as a time when the country was stripped of its sovereignty, denied the right to self-determination, and exploited for its resources, he said. It remains a painful chapter marked by subjugation and domination.

“[A victory] would be symbolically interpreted as proof that Morocco can stand toe-to-toe with a nation that once exercised colonial power over it,” Brahimi said.

During its magical run in 2022, bolstered by their fans’ raucous chants of “Dima Maghreb” — or, “Always Morocco” — Morocco defeated Spain and Portugal before their crushing 2-0 loss to then-defending champions Les Bleus, France’s national team.

Rachid Moukhabir, who grew up in Casablanca and now lives in Revere, is confident his countrymen will avenge that defeat. He acknowledged that France, who have made Greater Boston their home base, enter the matchup led by their talisman Kylian Mbappé, who is locked in a tight race with Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Norway’s Erling Haaland for the mantle of the tournament’s top scorer. But Morocco has their own World Cup pedigree through their coach Mohamed Ouahbi, who led the country’s under-20 team to the FIFA World Cup 2025 title last year in Chile.

“It’s going to be a difficult game, but I think Morocco will win,” Moukhabir said. “Nothing will stop us to the final.”

For Thursday’s game, the city of Revere has partnered with five local businesses, including one on Shirley Avenue, where a previous watch party packed the street, for fans to watch the quarterfinal match-up while enjoying perks including discounted foods. In Revere, an estimated 10 percent of the populations hails from Moroccan ancestry.

Meanwhile, for the large Moroccan diaspora in France, a win on Thursday would bolster a community that, at times, has felt marginalized.

“Once France is beaten on the pitch, maybe that’s going to kind of give [Moroccans] the respect that they deserve, so they become fully integrated within the French society, and be given a chance to feel French as well, instead of being made to feel alienated and being othered,” Brahimi said.

That connection between the two nations is also reflected in the French national team.

One of Morocco’s breakout stars at this year’s tournament is the teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi, who was, until recently, captain of the French under-21 team. Meanwhile, Atlas Lions captain Achraf Hakimi is an indispensable starter for the winners of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain.

Four years ago, Mbappé famously joked that playing against Morocco meant that he had to destroy his friend Hakimi. “It will break my heart a little bit, but you know, that is football. I have to kill him,” Mbappé reportedly said.

Meanwhile, for another French star, Ousmane Dembélé, the game also means playing against the ancestral land of his wife, Rima Edbouche, a Parisian of Moroccan heritage.

Those relationships on the pitch also afford the Moroccan team a confidence ahead of the match on Thursday, as they see French players as peers.

“I don’t think that Hakimi feels inferior [to] Mbappé,” Moukhabir said. “These young players, they grow up in France, and they played with those French players in the biggest teams in the world, so there are competing neck to neck.”

In Revere, Moukhabir said he has watched games with friends at Casablanca cafe and Revere Beach. He lamented being unable to afford to attend the two matches that Morocco will have played locally, priced out by how expensive tickets to the games have been at this tournament.

“We feel like we are lucky to have the Moroccan team play in Boston, not only one game, but it’s twice. However, the prices — the high prices of those tickets — are stopping people from going to the stadium,” he said.

For IT consultant Mohamed Elbaz, who is originally from Morocco, studied in France and now lives in Melrose, he was hoping that the two countries would meet later in the tournament. When the World Cup started, he was rooting for three teams: Morocco, France and the US. Now that Team USA was unceremoniously knocked out by Belgium, he has Morocco and France left.

“It’s Morocco’s turn. Last time, we came close to [in 2022],” he said. “Since they won it last time, I think we should win it this time.”

Should Morocco prevail, it will offer a balm for the scars Moroccans still carry from that history.

“For a lot of us Moroccans, it carries the weight of history,” Brahimi said. “It is a reminder for us of an ugly colonial past, or painful colonial past, that has left us with very deep, real, political, cultural, and even psychological scars.”

Globe correspondent Audrey Tomlin contributed to this report.

Omar Mohammed can be reached at omar.mohammed@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter (X) @shurufu.