Walid Regragui pays tribute to African history makers Morocco

The North Africans’ historic World Cup run ended on Wednesday in a 2-0 semi-final loss to France.

Morocco manager Walid Regragui insists his side’s World Cup exit should take anything away from everything they’ve achieved in Qatar.

After becoming the first African and Arab team to reach the World Cup semi-finals, an injury-hit Morocco met their end on Wednesday in a 2-0 defeat to reigning champions France at the Al Bayt Stadium.

“We gave the maximum, that’s the most important,” Regragui said at the end of the match.

“We had some injuries, we lost [Nayef] Aguerd in the warm-up, [Romain] Saiss, [Noussair] Mazraoui [during the game], but there are no excuses.

“We paid for the slightest mistake. We didn’t get into the game well, we had too much technical waste in the first half, and the second goal kills us, but that doesn’t take away everything we did before.

“We realize we made a great achievement already. We know that the media, social media, and on TV, we saw the pictures, and we saw everyone was proud of us in our country.

“I think the world as a whole is proud of this Moroccan team because we show great desire. We work hard, and we played honest, hard-working football.”

Theo Hernandez became the first opposing player to score against Morocco at the World Cup in the fifth minute of the game. The Moroccans rearranged themselves and battled back vigorously to put France under pressure. However, 11 minutes from normal time, substitute Randal Kolo Muani scored to double Les Bleus’ advantage, effectively ending the contest.

Morocco will next face Croatia on Saturday for the third-place playoff of the World Cup.