As soon as the final whistle blew, cafes and houses emptied out, and they headed out onto the streets. Fireworks, honking horns... Thousands of people celebrated the Moroccan team's "historic" victory at the U20 World Cup overnight Sunday into Monday.

"This is a historic event!" Mimoune El Moufid, 59, exclaimed to AFP, his voice trembling with pride, in the heart of Rabat. "This is the first time a Moroccan team has won a World Cup!"

Around him, faces beam, songs rise, and the capital is still vibrating at four in the morning. In the streets, people chant: "Congratulations to us! This is only the beginning!"

In Chile, the young Moroccans pulled off a spectacular feat by winning 2-0 against the favorites Argentina in Santiago, buoyed by a brace from Yassir Zabiri (12th, 29th). In front of the screens, the fans held their breath before bursting into joy.

"I have no words," whispers Chadin El Moussaoui, 16, his eyes shining, "moved to see so much happiness" in the streets of the country.

For Mustapha Idissi, a 50-year-old trader, "this youth will motivate the national team" in the run-up to the African Cup of Nations, which Morocco will host this winter.

And already, dreams are stretching towards 2030. "God willing, we'll win it!" says Mohamed El Badaoui, 38. "It's all our dreams: to go far, very far, why not win the real World Cup in 2030."

The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, declared that he had followed "with immense joy and deep pride" the "heroic" journey of the Atlas Lion Cubs.

He extended to the team members "his warm congratulations for this new global achievement, the first of its kind in the history of Moroccan football," reported the official Moroccan news agency MAP.