It was great while it lasted, but then France arrived. After beating Spain and Portugal, two super talented teams in this World Cup, brave Morocco couldn’t pull the third surprise of the tournament. Atlas Lions did their best and made Africa proud, but lost the game 2-0 and will play Croatia in a meaningful game for third place. Despite the loss, Morocco ruler King Mohammed VI sent his “warm congratulations” to the whole team for having “honoured the Moroccan people”, according to the country’s national news agency MAP. Giroud and Regragui Hugging after France 🇫🇷 v Morocco 🇲🇦 They were former teammates when they played together in Grenoble. Very touching! pic.twitter.com/xcUxboOHx5— Mimi Fawaz (@MimosaFawaz) December 14, 2022 And Walid Regragui could only praise his players after another good display, which unfortunately ended in defeat. “We gave our all, that’s the most important thing. The boys fought until the last minute. If I have any regrets about this game, it would be mainly conceding that goal quickly – it gave the French team even more certainty to stick with their approach ” said Regragui, after the match.Mbappe, meet Messi! Messi, Mbappe! France edge Morocco to book Argentina in the finalAfter the games against Spain and Portugal Regragui pointed out that a ball possession, and that’s something both teams had much more than Morocco, doesn’t mean that they will win. And he was right about it, because last night, it was Morocco with almost 60% of possession and yet they lost 2-0.Chaos across France, Moroccan teenager died in Montepllier”We said that if they gave us the ball, we would take it. We did that but we made too many technical mistakes in the first half. In the second half we were smarter, we gave away fewer balls and we caused them problems, creating a lot of opportunities but we weren’t decisive in that final 30 metres. We wanted to get a goal and give them some doubts. But with their attacking talents, we knew we could be punished at any moment and that’s what happened with the second goal” analyzed the Moroccan coach. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6890958##Not blessed with much quality on the bench (like France), Regragui had to deal with injury problems too, so reserves like Achraf Dari and Selim Amallah had to step up instead of Nayef Aguerd (withdrew after the warm-up) and captain Romain Saiss (injured in the 21st minute). “We lost a lot of players who did their best. Noussair Mazraoui was ill but he played, Saiss too. I have nothing to say when the players give their maximum. We could have scored, but unfortunately a goal didn’t come. May the Moroccans forgive us. We wanted to go to the final but… next time, God willing. We gave the maximum, that’s the most important thing. The most important thing is to have given a good image, to have shown the world that Moroccan football exists and that we have beautiful supporters. To reach the very, very highest level, to win a World Cup, we still have to work but we are not very far away” explained the Moroccan coach.
