Morocco coach Walid Regragui claimed there was no disgrace in shedding to France of their 2-0 World Cup semi-final, saying his crew had confirmed their nation ‘exists’.
Theo Hernandez struck early on however Morocco – the primary African semi-finalists in historical past – greater than matched their illustrious opponents earlier than substitute Randal Kolo Muani’s first France purpose secured a 2-0 win within the closing levels.
There shall be subplots aplenty on Sunday as France face Argentina, Lionel Messi up towards club-mate Kylian Mbappe on the forefront, however this was an evening the place Morocco proved their shock development into the final 4 was no fluke, going toe-to-toe with the reigning champions in addition to having a robust penalty claimed turned down.
Morocco boss Walid Regragui says his aspect confirmed soccer of their nation exists after their unbelievable World Cup run got here to an finish
The North African crew have been crushed 2-0 by France within the sem-finals, however Regragui instructed the squad to elevate their heads excessive
And after the full-time whistle, Regragui mentioned Morocco have helped the picture of African soccer on a world stage and that he’ll now be cheering on France in Sunday’s closing.
‘We’re going to help them (France) now,’ he added.
‘The entire world is happy with this Moroccan crew. We confirmed need, performed arduous and have given picture of Morocco and of African soccer.
‘A very powerful factor is to have proven face, to have proven that soccer in Morocco exists and that we have now nice supporters
The coach believes ‘the entire world’ are happy with his gamers, and mentioned they might help Kylian Mbappe and France within the closing
‘We have been representing our nation and our continent. Individuals already revered us however I feel they respect us extra now.
‘Congratulations to France. I mentioned earlier than the match, they’re an excellent aspect and so they have been well-placed to win the sport however regardless of all of the accidents we had, the tiredness, we pulled out all of the stops, gave them all the pieces, brought on them issues and that’s already fairly an achievement.
‘You’ll be able to’t win a World Cup with miracles, it’s essential win it by means of arduous work and that’s what we are going to do, we are going to preserve working.’
For the Morocco gamers and their energetic coach, this turned out to be one dream too far having already crushed Belgium, Spain and Portugal – ending the hopes of Eden Hazard, Sergio Busquets and Cristiano Ronaldo en path to a historic semi-final.
Regragui was eager to reward the gamers who had claimed the scalps of Belgium, Spain and Portugal however that plan backfired even earlier than kick-off.
However he mentioned he had no regrets after his choice to call captain Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd in his beginning line-up for his or her World Cup semi-final loss to France.
West Ham defender Aguerd, who had been battling a thigh harm, changed by Achraf Dari after the warm-up, whereas Saiss limped off 20 minutes into the tie.
‘Till the final minute we weren’t certain, we waited till the final minute to see if Romain might play. He’s such an essential participant for us, our captain,’ he mentioned, admitting his squad have been on their ‘final legs’.
‘Nayef was recovering from flu and needed to play as effectively, I assumed it was finest to play with three defenders so that they did not have an excessive amount of to run at.
‘We made numerous errors after which Romain needed to go off and we modified to a four-man defence and truly performed higher.
‘I’ve no regrets in regards to the choice. Nayef’s absence was troublesome and all of those little issues meant we obtained off to fairly a poor begin, you be taught out of your errors, I do as effectively. If all our squad was match we might have brought on them much more issues.
‘At a World Cup, this was one step too far, not when it comes to high quality or ways however bodily, we had too many gamers at 60-70 per cent.’
