DOHA, DEC 11.
Morocco head coach Walid Regragui said his team has established that Arab or African teams can reach the last four stage of the World Cup.
“We achieved something, we made history. We put an African team as one of the best four teams in the world. We were among the eight best,” Regragui told reporters after stunning former Euro champions Portugal 1-0 to storm into the semifinals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
“I’m very proud of that because our players made an extraordinary performance.”
The coach, nicknamed ‘Mr Avacado Head’ due to the shape of his head, said it was a tough encounter.
“We had a plan, but Portugal gave us a lot of trouble. It would be arrogant of me to say that we changed the game today.” “We also didn’t do too well against Spain. We play from the heart. We know that we need to fight against the talents of Portugal.” Regragui said his team is evolving as one of the best teams in this World Cup.
“And today we had heart, and I think that we are becoming the best team at this World Cup, and we are showing the whole world that everything’s possible in life.”
He said the players and the support staff have worked hard to reach this level.
“You can have less talent, less quality, and less money, but if you have hope, work hard, fight and believe, you’ll be able to do anything. Today, the guys are proving... and as I said, be careful, it’s not a miracle.” “We played Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. We conceded 0 goals against them all. It’s not a miracle, it’s hard work,” the 47-year-old said.
INSTILLING NEW BELIEF
Regragui said it was his pre-tournament priority to instill a self-belief among the players to make an impression in Qatar.
“When I travelled, three months ago, I used to spend my life on the plane. I spoke with everyone, [Hakim] Ziyech, [Sofyan] Amrabat, I said: “Don’t go to this World Cup to play only three games, put that in your mind because it’s very important”.
“The guy who only comes here to play three games in the World Cup and have fun can’t come with me. That message was spread around the team, and in my country now.”
“Then it reached the continent. For that, football is the best sport in the world.”
On a query on goal-scorer Youssef En-Nesyri, Walid said he had always believed in the capability of the Sevilla player. Selection of En-Nesyri, who was out of form before the World Cup, had evoked heavy criticism from the home media in Morocco.
top scorer
“I always believed in him, fortunately, I did, because even the Moroccan media heavily criticised me when I defended him, and when I selected him for the World Cup squad. “That’s football, I knew that very well, I accepted the critics then, and told the lad: ‘You don’t play in Sevilla for nothing, we’ll help you and you’ll help us back in the World Cup. Today, he’s Morocco’s top scorer in the history of the World Cup, he gave his response on the pitch.
“That’s what I said, the answer is always on the field, for me as a coach, for him as a player. This will give us lessons in the future. When managers make choices... it’s your job as well.”
“You know, I always believed in Youssef, because of the energy bursts he gives. That’s why he plays in Sevilla, any coach would love to have Youssef En-Nesyri on his team.”
“He always works for the team, as Oliver Giroud does for France. Some players are like this. “He’s raised in Morocco, in the Moroccan league. He was made in Morocco, he’s really the example to follow.”
Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who was picked as the man of the match, said this squad has given a new winning mentality for the coming generation.
“We’ve come to change the mentality, our insecurity while playing big teams. We showed that Moroccan players can compete against anyone in the world.”
“I think the most important thing is that we’ve managed to change that mentality and the generation after us will know that Moroccan players can do all this,” Bounou, who made an important save off a Cristiano Ronaldo shot, added.
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