Morocco's incredible Arabian fairytale has been built on family

This stunning storybook journey of magical Arabian days and nights on the fields of Qatar has been built on family, on a spirit of togetherness and tightness

UNITED: Morocco players react after goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saves a penalty against Spain. Pic: PA

A week is a lifetime here in a place that bends the hands of the clock, twisting a summer staple into their desert winter. Yet still the scene lingers in the memory.

Another small-hour metro ride, catching it before it shuts for its two hours of downtime from 3am to 5am. Another deep exhale when finally getting a seat for the quiet journey back into Doha’s downtown. But the quiet was quickly broken. A group of three women wheeled a couple of prams into the carriage and one of the toddlers squealed as she jumped up and ran along a row of seats. “I’m….not sure that child is Qatari,” said a colleague. When out and about with their parents, local kids have tended to be on the quieter, demure side. This was the opposite of all that.