Under the Management of Blagoje Vidinic, the Atlas lions, in their first participation, left their mark in Mexico 70.
Africa's first taste of the finals came as the Moroccans took on West Germany, the defeated finalists of 1966.
The game started with the Moroccans grabbing the initiative, by taking the lead after twenty-one minutes,
as Houmane Jarir took advantage of a mistake by Hottges to put the ball past Sepp Maier in the German goal.
The Bamous squad played breathtaking football, gave a sour experience and took the lead into half time,
but with the introduction by the Germans of Grabowski in the second half; the tide of the game soon started to turn.
The Moroccans retained their advantage until twenty minutes into the second half,
until the veteran Uwe Seeler converted a Gerd Muller pass to level the scores.
Muller then provided the game's decisive moment as with just twelve minutes remaining,
he put the ball home to give his side a far from convincing two-one opening victory.
In their second match,they were defeated by Peru 3-1 and in the last they held the Bulgarians to a 1-1 draw.
Africa was predicted a golden future but suddenly the upswing seemed broken by Zaire in 1974.
