Walid Regragui: ‘Despite Injuries, Fatigue…We Fought to The Bitter End’

Rabat- Following the Atlas Lions’ 2-0 loss to Les Bleu in the Morocco-France match, Morocco’s head coach Walid Regragui expressed his pride in the team, saying that despite injuries and fatigue, the team played with their heart, fought to the end, and shared the true values of football.

“I told the players that I was proud of them, that His Majesty was proud of them, that the Moroccan people were proud of them, and that the rest of the world was proud to see a Moroccan team reach this level,” he said during the post-game press conference on Wednesday.

When asked about the Atlas Lions’ overall game strategy and technique, Regragui said, “If I have any regrets about the match, it’s especially the beginning of the match when France scored its first goal quickly, which gave France more confidence to keep its playing style.”

Regragui explained the team faced a setback when they made “too many technical errors in the first half.”

“In the second half, we were more skilled, lost fewer balls, gave them trouble, and created many situations,” he added.

The head coach acknowledged that the step towards the semi-finals may have been a bit of a stretch for the team not because of the player’s ability or tactics, but on a physical level despite this, they still made it to the semi-finals.

In addition, Regragui emphasized that the national football team not only presented a beautiful image of Morocco but also of African football, saying that this was important as they represented both their country and continent.

“At the very least, we’ve shown that we can compete at the level of these competitions, which is great,” he added.

Showing his sportsmanship values the head coach congratulated France on their victory, noting that they are a big team capable of winning.

Meanwhile, he highlighted, “it is difficult for Morocco’s players to accept the loss because they were determined to make history, but the image they gave the world of Moroccan football equals a world cup victory.”

Morocco is set to face off against Croatia in the World Cup third-place playoff at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday at 16:00 Moroccan time.