Morocco fans urge World Cup's 'jinx mascot' to support France in semi-final

Mohammed Al Hajri - actor and social media influencer known as ‘Mjomba' - wearing a Qatar scarf and carrying the nation's flag for the opening match of the Fifa World Cup. All photos: Mohammed Al Hajri

On Tuesday evening Mr Al Hajri supported Croatia who went on to lose 3-0 to Brazil.

Mr Al Hajri went to the Saudi Arabia v Argentina match wearing Messi’s number 10 jersey. Argentina ended up losing 2-1 in one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history

Mr Al Hajri wore Spanish colours for the game against Morocco. The game ended 0-0 but Morocco went through on penalties

For the England match against Senegal, he wore the African nation's red, green and yellow colours on top of his national dress. Senegal lost 3-0

He wore Portugal's colours for their match in the quarter-finals against Morocco

For the Brazil v Croatia quarter-finals match, he wore the South American side's famous gold and green colours

As an Argentina fan, he decided to change his colour allegiance to the Netherlands for their match, but the team lost on penalties

A man who is known for bringing bad luck to Fifa World Cup teams this year by wearing their flags has been inundated with thousands of requests from Moroccan fans to wear a France jersey for Wednesday night's match.

Previous World Cup tournaments have featured psychic animals, such as Paul the octopus in 2010 or Achilles the cat in 2018, predicting the results.

This year, however, it's Mohammed Al Hajri, 31, from Oman — an actor and social media influencer known as ‘Mjomba' — who has been successful in predicting the match losers by bringing bad luck to whichever team's colours he adorns.

Dubbed the World Cup’s "jinx mascot" on social media, every team he has supported so far has lost their match.

On Tuesday, Mr Al Hajri posted on Instagram that he would be supporting Croatia and went to the stadium dressed in the red and white football shirt. Croatia lost to Argentina 3-0.

He arrived in Doha from Oman for the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador wearing national dress and a purple scarf. The hosts ended up losing 2-0.

Mr Al Hajri went to Saudi Arabia v Argentina match wearing Messi’s number 10 jersey and Argentina ended up losing 2-1 in one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history.

Dismissing it as a mere coincidence, he returned to Oman.

He arrived back in Qatar for the England match against Senegal wearing the African nation's colourful red, green and yellow colours on top of his national dress. Senegal lost 3-0.

“I didn’t know I’m jinxed until that point,” Mr Al Hajri said in a post on his Instagram account.

His followers also noticed that the team he was cheering for was losing their matches and so Mr Al Hajri decided to cheer on the team he wanted to lose.

“I bought a dress with a Korean flag from Souq Waqif to cheer for South Korea against Brazil. After 37 minutes, Brazil scored four goals,” he said on social media.

“There was a Moroccan fan beside me and told him what happened and he begged me not to come to the stadium for Morocco v Spain match.”

Mr Al Hajri wore the Spanish colours and went to the stadium with the Moroccan fans and the jinx worked again — the game ended 0-0 but Morocco went through on penalties.

His videos and pictures have gone viral on social media and drawn more attention at the global event because of his humorous delivery in his videos.

For the Brazil v Croatia quarter-final, he wore the South American side's famous gold and green colours. The match ended 1-1 but Croatia advanced on penalties.

As an Argentina fan, he decided to change his allegiance in colours to the Netherlands for their quarter-final which they lost on penalties.

“Moroccan fans asked me to wear Portugal for their match in the quarter-final and I did. The curse happened again and Portugal lost,” he said.

Several tweets in recent days show Mjomba being approached by Moroccan fans after the Portugal match and asked to wear the French colours for their match on Wednesday.