Morocco coach Reguagui: We want Africa to be top of the World

DOHA: Morocco coach Walid Regragui has already made history by leading his team to the World Cup semi-finals, but he insists that is not enough and is setting his sights on a place in Sunday’s final.

Speaking to the press on the eve of Wednesday’s semi-final against France, Regragui admitted that this tie would be Morocco’s toughest yet.

“The further you get, the more difficult the games are. We are playing the world champions with world-class players and a very good coach (Didier Deschamps). But we will show great desire and try to pull off an upset.”

“Why not reach the final of the World Cup?” asked Regragui, who was happy to fly the flag for the African game.

“We’ve come to this competition to change mindsets within our continent. If we say the semi-final is enough, I don’t agree. We aren’t satisfied with the semi-final and being the first African team to do that. We want to go further,” he said, highlighting the desire among players and the thousands of fans who will back Morocco from the stands of the Al Bayt Stadium.

“We are hungry. I don’t know if it will be enough but we want Africa to be on top of the world. I know we are not favorites but we are confident. You might think that’s crazy, but a bit of craziness is good,” the coach insisted.

Morocco have progressed to the last-four after getting out of a group containing Belgium and Croatia, before getting past Spain and Portugal in the knockout stages.

“Before every match people thought we would get knocked out but we are still here. We are getting closer to our dreams and we will fight to get there.”

“We are one of the four best teams in the world now and we want to reach the final,” Regragui said.

-Xinhua