Rabat – Morocco’s captain Romain Saiss believes his side is ready to meet Croatia in the third-place match after losing to France in the World Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.
Morocco’s World Cup journey is still far from over, with the Atlas Lions going head-to-head with Croatia in the World Cup third place-playoff on December 17. The match will take place at 16:00 Moroccan time at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar.
In a statement to the French outlet Le Parisien, Romain Saiss expressed his pride in Morocco’s amazing World Cup achievement despite a semifinal loss to France. The Atlas Lions captain said that Morocco wants to bounce back from the disappointment of elimination and win Saturday’s third-place game against Croatia.
Saiss, who sustained an injury in the quarter-final game against Portugal and was forced to walk off the pitch during the first half against France, said he is not expecting to play in the third-place playoff. He added however that the Moroccan squad has other fine players who can duly replace him.
Romain Saiss said after Morocco’s defeat by France: “We are disappointed with the result. We wanted to win, but that did not happen. Thank God, we are proud of what we have done.”
But he hastened to add: “We have a match and a significant third-place [playoff] left. We have no regrets. We played incompletely due to injuries, and we reached this level and made great achievements and the best could have been, but we will look for third place.”
Meanwhile, coach Walid Regragui confirmed the pre-match press conference that Saiss will miss tomorrow’s game against Croatia due to a serious leg injury
Morocco’s head coach said, “We’ll check them [the injured players] out today. We definitely pushed our men to their limits, yet they still want to play tomorrow. However, we will not take any risks with any of my players.”
Read also: Walid Regragui: This is Not the End, We Still Have to Fight For the Third Place
