Drive down any main road in almost any city in Morocco and soon enough Brahim Diaz will be running towards you. He’ll be the image on a big billboard, arms pumping, shy smile forming. He’s the face endorsing, during the country’s hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations, a major mobile network provider.
But he’s got significant competition. A beaming Achraf Hakimi, Brahim’s Atlas Lions teammate, fills almost as much advertising space, promoting a rival supplier of airtime.
Safe to report that, in their main jobs, Hakimi and Brahim are very much on the same wavelength, their productive relationship on the right flank of the national team one of the motors that has driven Morocco into Sunday’s Afcon final.
There, up against Senegal, the hope is that vibrant home support, the worldliness of a carefully constructed squad and the momentum of 26 matches unbeaten can bring 50 years of waiting for a second continental title to an end.
The invincible run has looked all the more dazzling since Brahim started pumping his arms in
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