Morocco’s Walid Regragui: Our Goal Is to Learn from Previous Mistakes

The Atlas Lions made a series of mistakes in their last friendly match against Cote d’Ivoire, especially in the first half, and the goal now is to “learn from our mistakes,” Walid Regragui, Morocco’s national team coach said on Monday.

Rabat – The Atlas Lions made a series of mistakes in their last friendly match against Cote d’Ivoire, especially in the first half, and the goal now is to “learn from our mistakes,” Walid Regragui, Morocco’s national team coach said on Monday.

Regragui’s comment refers to the Saturday draw between Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire in a friendly match ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

During a press conference ahead of the team’s AFCON qualifier against Liberia, Regragui said that even though the match against the Liberian team may seem unchallenging, the goal of the national team is to win in order to finish the group stage in the first place.

He pointed out that in Africa, there are no longer small or big teams, saying: “We respect the Liberian team. This is not an easy match where you can win by 3 or 4 goals.”

Noting the number of challenges the team faces, he explained that the goal is to find solutions in the absence of Sofyan Amrabat, Hakim Ziyech, and Sofiane Boufal.

“I accept criticism,” he said. “I confirm that we were not at our best in the last match against Cote d’Ivoire.”

The national coach added that he chose to face the Ivorian team on their home turf to gauge the difficulties awaiting the national squad in the upcoming African Cup of Nations, which is scheduled for the period between January 13 and February 11, 2024.

“We played against the Ivorian team to assess our performance against big African teams in African stadiums, and we saw that we couldn’t match the competition,” he said.

“We need to learn from our mistakes,” he insisted. “This is our goal in friendly matches, committing mistakes now in order to avoid them in the African Cup of Nations.”