Regragui: The world is proud of my players
Morocco became the pride of Africa and the favourite of many neutrals in Qatar
Coach Walid Regragui says he, his country, and the world, are proud of his players
He confirms his wish to go even further at future tournements
A semi-final and a place in World Cup history is only the beginning of the story for Walid Regragui and his astonishing Morocco team, as the proud coach sets his sights on future glory.
"Small details" were the difference between France and Morocco, according to Regragui, who says the whole world was proud of his teams achievements - but that hasn't stopped him from wanting more.
"We realised we made a great achievement already, we know that the media supported us and on the TV, we saw how proud everyone was," he said at a press conference.
"We are disappointed, we wanted to keep the Moroccan people's dream alive. We are going to have to digest this defeat. We are pleased with what we have achieved, but we felt we could have gone even further.
"The small details help real champions win. We saw this against France, they had a lot of substitutes to make a difference. I told the players I am proud of them, the whole of Morocco is proud of them and so is the world. We worked hard; played honest football and that is what we wanted to do."
Regragui's "honest football" saw his team condemn Belgium to a group stage exit before knocking out Spain and Portugal in subsequent rounds. It is not just the victories, but the manner of them, that has been so impressive - a resolute and accomplished defence leaving the trio of eliminated European nations frustrated and forlorn.
"We gave a good image of Morocco and Africa, representing our country and our continent," Regragui continued, "we went as far as we could in the competition and that is great, but we are going to have to do even better in the future.
"We have to do that regularly if we want to be on the footballing map. We may not be as good as Spain, Brazil or England, but I want to qualify for every competition. Then, it will become normal for Morocco to be a presence. We have shown Africans we are capable of going toe-to-toe with the best."
Nayef Aguerd, Roman Saiss and Noussair Mazraoui were all injury doubts heading into the semi-final clash, but were initially named in Morocco's starting XI.
Aguerd did not appear, Saiss bowed out before half-time and Mazraoui was replaced at the break, with Regragui conceding injuries took their toll on the Atlas Lions.
"At a World Cup, this was one step too far – not for the quality or tactics, but physically we came up short," he added. "We had too many players who were at 60-70 per cent, but nevertheless got through to the semi-finals. My players gave a very good image of our team, and we showcased our quality.
"We wanted to rewrite the history books, but you can't win the World Cup through miracles, you need hard work and that is what we are going to continue to do."
As for the third-place play-off against Croatia on Saturday, Regragui vowed Morocco will fight once more, though he may offer chances to those who have not featured as often in Qatar.
"It will be a challenge mentally. We are on our last legs, we have a lot of players injured, but we want to win the game," the head coach continued.
"But I also want to allow squad players a chance to show what they can do. Those players have made a great contribution, but haven't had many minutes.
"After a defeat like this, it is always difficult to plan for the future. We will have some time to recover, and then we are going to try and make our country proud and win that third place."
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