Khaberni - First, we congratulate the Moroccan national team on reaching the final of the Youth World Cup where they have set a date with Argentina to compete for the world title, after excelling against traditional powerhouses like Brazil, Spain, and France. If we pause to consider this tournament, we find that the real achievement for Morocco has been the creation of a golden generation carrying forward the legacy of the team that finished fourth in the 2022 World Cup.
After this congratulation to our Arab sister team, which is fundamentally related to this article, we return to the reality of our team; where our national football team is currently experiencing its finest days, marked by unique and unprecedented achievements, most notably reaching the World Cup directly, preceded by reaching the final of the Asian Cup. This has made this group of players a golden generation, around which Jordanian fans and both Arab and international media have rallied, deservedly praising them for their exceptional performance.
The golden generation of any national team is a group of exceptional players managed by an exceptional administration, representing their team over a significant period and marked by outstanding individual and collective technical abilities. They have gained experiences that allowed them to achieve unprecedented successes, ensuring their names remain etched in people's memories even after their retirement. Examples of golden generations in the football world include the Greek national team at the 2004 European Championship, among many other examples from national teams across all continents. However, these teams often returned to their former states after their golden generations retired.
To avoid this, we must achieve a continuous, permanent state of golden football, like a chain of majestic mountains, rather than being a solitary mountain in a desert. Our goal is to ensure continuous progress guaranteeing permanent access to major tournaments through a broad base of distinguished players of varied ages, from highly competent coaches, and providing all the conditions necessary for ongoing creativity.
One of the prominent examples of development and sustained achievement is the Japanese experience; in the 1998 Asian Cup qualifiers, Japan drew with our national team one goal each, qualifying on goal difference after both teams earned 5 points. They then initiated their football project, winning the Asian Cup in 1992, and despite failing to qualify for the World Cup in 1994 due to a decisive goal, their presence has not waned from the World Cup since 1998. This is the true and necessary meaning of sustaining achievements.
Returning to our golden generation, we observe that all these achievements were attained by relying on a specific group of players, and their absence poses a significant issue for any coach, indicating our urgent need to support this generation, ensuring continuous participation in international forums for years to come after our participation in the World Cup concludes.
Undoubtedly, the priority now is the significant preparation for our national team's participation in the World Cup. However, paralleling this, we must also focus on other age groups. Observing our Olympic football team, we see that we have a very strong team capable of reaching the Olympic Games. Likewise, the federation must keep good preparations for the youth and junior teams to qualify for the World Cup for these age groups; thus, ensuring a broad base of outstanding players from various age groups and providing exceptional professional opportunities, especially as most global clubs direct their scouts' attention towards these world tournaments.
We have a men's national team playing in the World Cup, and we aspire for our Olympic team to play in the Olympic finals and for our youth and junior teams to participate in the World Cup. This would establish us as among the continent's giants in football for many long years. This is the state of major national teams; success is ongoing across all age teams, paying as much attention to youth team achievements and their continental championship and qualifications for the World Cup as they do to the men's team's achievements.
Finally, it must be noted that this continuous and permanent development requires enormous effort from everyone involved in and outside the football system, through providing financial support, good quality pitches, supported coaches, and supporting clubs to focus on different age groups, among many other elements of the game, because today's child is tomorrow's man.
