The Moroccan national team is the surprise of the 2022 World Cup
Morocco national team manager, Walid Rekragui, believes his team feels proud and proud, because they will play a seventh match, at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, even if it is not the final match, as he had hoped.
The Atlas Lions wrote a new page in the history of Arab and African football after Morocco became the first Arab and African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, but their chances were stalled on Wednesday after defeat by French team.
They will play their classification match against Croatia on Saturday, to determine the third-placed team.
“We had hoped to play in the final but it didn’t happen,” said Regragui.
He added: “And this is another match ahead of us, which we will play to get on the podium.”
He added: “I know third place is better than fourth. As far as I’m concerned, we didn’t qualify for the final. We wanted to play the final on Sunday, not today.”
“But I told the players, this is the seventh match we will play in the 2022 World Cup Finals, and if I tell a fan that we will play the seventh match, on December 17, they will be proud,” said Regragui.
He added: “The Moroccan national team has played 6 World Cup matches in the last twenty years and we play 7 matches in one tournament. It’s fantastic, as if we’ve played two or more tournaments. It’s a wonderful experience.”
Morocco and Croatia will conclude their participation in the 2022 World Cup, as they began, with a confrontation between them.
The sides drew, goalless, in their opening group stage match, but Regragui expects the second meeting to be more exciting.
He said: “We knew Croatia would be one of the best teams in this tournament. After the first match, their good level appeared.”
“Many thought, after the first match, that the Croatian national team had reached the end of their careers, and they were criticized for not beating the ‘small’ Moroccan team, but the two teams reached the semi-finals,” added Rekragui.
And he added: “The first match was dominated by a lot of hesitation. Now all the teams want to win, so the match will be better.”
The one against Morocco could be the last match that Luka Modric will play for the Croatian national team. Regragui was quick to praise the Real Madrid player.
He said: “I don’t know if this is his last match, but he’s a fierce fighter and wants to end his World Cup campaign with a win, so we have to be careful about that.”
He added: “I salute Modric, what he’s doing at the age of 37 is incredible. He won the Ballon d’Or, and that’s proof of his worth.”
But Croatian national team manager Zlatko Dalic believes Modric will continue to play for the national team and participate in the European championship in 2024.
He said: “I hope he will participate in the European Championship. The decision is in his hands, but I feel he will be with the national team.”
He added that his team wants to end its participation with a win and expects the match to be exciting.
And Dalic added: “We have a lot of respect for the Moroccan national team for what they have achieved in this tournament, and they deserved the surprise title.”
He explained that Moroccan players “have a similar mentality to ours. The match will be strong, because they have a good squad, but we don’t think about what the opponent is saying, because we’re playing for third place. The match will be very strong.”
He added: “Morocco did what we did in the last round. Nobody expected them to achieve what they have achieved and they deserve it. They are a mature and developed team and have played at a high level in every game.”
He concluded by saying: “They are really the best surprise of this tournament. If we talk about teams that should have given more than they did, like Spain, Belgium, Germany, Holland, England and Italy, who didn’t even qualify for the final “.
The news of the two formations
- Regragui confirmed the absence of central defender and national team captain Romain Sayes through injury
- The possibility of Marcelo Brozovic’s absence from the Croatian center of the field after leaving the match with Argentina
- The participation of the outstanding Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol is possible despite his minor injury
