Walid Regragui and Sofyan Amrabat have reacted to the elimination in the semifinals of the World Cup in Qatar. The national coach of Morocco was proud of his team after a wonderful tournament, but also saw where things had gone wrong against France.
“We gave the maximum and showed, that’s the most important thing,” Regragui told the TF1 cameras afterwards. He could put the fact that the dream of the world title had come to an end. “We also had a few nasty injuries…”
With that, the coach was referring to his rearguard. Regragui lost three players. “Nayef Aguerd dropped out in the warm-up, Roman Saïss had to be substituted after twenty minutes and Noussair Mazraoui was unable to continue after the break. And against a team like France, a minimal mistake immediately becomes a costly one,” he commented.
“The game in the first half was not good enough to reach the final,” Regragui said. The coach saw his team perform better in the second company, but it was not enough. “The second half was much better, but that second goal knocked us out. That hurts, but that doesn’t alter the fact that we gave this tournament everything.”
Morocco became the first African team ever to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar. Regragui does that well. “There is sadness, but also emotion and pride. It was a special tournament,” he concluded.
This is what Moroccan midfielder Sofyan Amrabat had to say. “What should I say?,” Amrabat wondered aloud in front of the NOS cameras. The midfielder was still full of emotions. “This is just very sour. I can’t make more of it. They left the ball to us from the start, which is a compliment.”
“We really gave everything,” Amrabat said about the fairy tale of the Moroccans. He still found it difficult to realize that he had loosened up a lot with his teammates. “Of course, you get all sorts of things. But at the World Cup it is mainly life in a tunnel. That’s what you do. You concentrate on matches, on recovering and playing well again,” he added.
