World Cup: Morocco boss Walid Regragui says his side can be proud after France loss

Morocco coach Walid Regragui said there was no shame in losing to France in their World Cup semi-final 2-0, saying his team had shown that their country “exists”.

Theo Hernández scored from the start, but Morocco, the first African semi-finalists in history, more than matched their illustrious opponents before France’s first goal from substitute Randal Kolo Muani secured a 2-0 victory in the closing stages.

There will be plenty of subplots on Sunday when France take on Argentina, Lionel Messi against his club mate Kylian Mbappe in the forefront, but this was a night in which Morocco proved that their stunning progression to the last four was no fluke, going expensive. to face. with the current champions in addition to having a strong penalty claimed rejected.

Morocco boss Walid Regragui says his team proved that football in his country exists after their incredible World Cup run came to an end.

The North African team was defeated 2-0 by France in the semi-finals, but Regragui told the squad to hold their heads high

And after the final whistle, Regragui said that Morocco has helped the image of African football on a world stage and that they will now cheer on France in Sunday’s final.

“We are going to support them (France) now,” he added.

‘The whole world is proud of this Moroccan team. We showed desire, we played hard and we have given a good image of Morocco and African football.

“The most important thing is to have shown a good face, to have shown that football exists in Morocco and that we have great fans.

The coach believes that “the whole world” is proud of his players and assured that they will support Kylian Mbappé and France in the final

‘We were representing our country and our continent. People already respected us, but I think they respect us more now.

‘Congratulations to France. I said it before the game, they are a very good team and they were well placed to win the game but despite all the injuries we had, the fatigue, we did everything possible, we gave them everything, we caused them problems and that’s already a big deal. achievement.

“You can’t win a World Cup with miracles, you need to win it with hard work and that’s what we’ll do, we’ll keep working.”

For Morocco’s players and their energetic coach, this turned out to be too big a dream after they defeated Belgium, Spain and Portugal, dashing the hopes of Eden Hazard, Sergio Busquets and Cristiano Ronaldo en route to a historic semi-final.

Regragui was eager to reward the players who had taken the scalps of Belgium, Spain and Portugal, but that plan fell through even before kick-off.

But he said he has no regrets after his decision to name captain Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd in his starting lineup for their World Cup semifinal loss to France.

West Ham defender Aguerd, who had been struggling with a thigh injury, was replaced by Achraf Dari after the warm-up, while Saiss limped off 20 minutes into the tie.

“Until the last minute we weren’t sure, we waited until the last minute to see if Romain could play. He is a very important player for us, our captain, ”he said, admitting that his team was in its“ last stages ”.

‘Nayef was recovering from the flu and wanted to play too, I thought it was best to play with three defenders so they didn’t have too much to run.

“We made a lot of mistakes and then Romain had to come out and we switched to a four-man defense and actually played better.”

‘I don’t regret the decision. Nayef’s absence was complicated and all these little things made us start off quite badly, you learn from mistakes, me too. If our entire team was fit, we could have caused them even more trouble.

“In a World Cup, this was a step too far, not in terms of quality or tactics, but physically, we had too many players at 60-70 percent.”