Morocco were on ‘last legs’ in World Cup semi-final defeat to France, Walid Regragui admits

12/15/2022

West Ham defender Aguerd, who had been struggling with a thigh injury, replaced by Achraf Dari after the warm-up, while Saiss limped off 20 minutes into the tie.

“Until the last minute we weren’t sure, we waited until the last minute to see if Romain could play. He is such an important player for us, our captain,” he said, admitting his squad were on their “last legs”.

“Nayef was recovering from flu and wanted to play as well, I thought it was best to play with three defenders so they didn’t have too much to run at.

“We made a lot of mistakes and then Romain had to go off and we changed to a four-man defence and actually played better.

“I have no regrets about the decision. Nayef’s absence was difficult and all of these little things meant we got off to quite a poor start, you learn from your mistakes, I do as well. If all our squad was fit we could have caused them even more problems.

“At a World Cup, this was one step too far, not in terms of quality or tactics but physically, we had too many players at 60-70 per cent.”

Regragui believes Morocco have helped the imagine of African football on a global stage and that he will now be cheering on France in Sunday’s final.

“We are going to support them (France) now,” he added.

“The whole world is proud of this Moroccan team. We showed desire, played hard and have given a good image of Morocco and of African football.

“We were representing our country and our continent. People already respected us but I think they respect us more now.

Morocco were on ‘last legs’ in World Cup semi-final defeat to France, Walid Regragui admits

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