Moroccans are eagerly anticipating their team’s semi-final World Cup match against reigning champions, France.

Morocco became the first Arab and African side to make it to a World Cup semi-final, after defeating Portugal last week in a shock result.

Across Casablanca, a port city in western Morocco, café owners are setting up for the biggest football game of their lives.

Tables are being cleared out, and rows of chairs lined up in front of giant screens, ready for the throngs of supporters who will be pouring into the city’s many coffee shops to watch the game.

Vendors selling flags and football jerseys have taken over the Medina, the city’s historical district.

Football fans here say they never expected this day to come, and that the team’s victory would be a watershed moment, not just for Moroccans, but for the entire African continent, as well as the Arab world.

This is a country which has poured millions into its national team. That investment appears to be paying off: many of its players were trained in Morocco rather than abroad.

Many here are praying this homegrown side will make history today.