Yassine Jessim and Soufiane Rahimi celebrate Morocco’s fourth goal.
It’s early afternoon on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. At first, Atlanta seems true to itself. A sprawling city in the American South, crushed by the heavy, humid heat typical of Georgia in early summer, where the straight avenues of Downtown let in an almost compact, almost solid white light reflecting off the glass of skyscrapers. But as you approach metro Atlanta, in the heart of the historic downtown and old railroad lines, something else, brighter and deeply organic, begins to superimpose on the ordinary landscape.
Red and green flags emblazoned with Sheriff’s Star gradually appeared along Upper Alabama streets, hanging from brick railings and lamp posts. Portable speakers play the sounds of Casablanca and Rabat, mixing urban rhythms with traditional songs, and the first smells of halal grills, roasted spices, cumin and coriander waft from food trucks set up along the sidewalks for the occasion. The Morocco festival has just begun and is already quietly transforming part of the city center into a hybrid space, on the precise border between a cultural event and a spontaneous global fan zone. This major event, staged as a prelude to the Morocco v Haiti decider the following day, Wednesday 24 June, immediately ups the ante for this major global encounter on day three of Group C of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.