The coach of Morocco, Walid Regragui, acknowledged that his team deserved the defeat against Croatia (2-1), this Saturday (17th), in the game for third place in the World Cup in Qatar, although he highlighted the importance of finishing between the four best teams in the world.
“It’s a bitter defeat, but I think it was deserved. We saw a team that didn’t give up. We’ll remember many games, we’ll come back stronger. We united our country for a month, everyone was happy,” the 47-year-old coach told TV BeIN Sport.
The Croatians, runners-up in Russia-2018, were third thanks to goals from Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic, while Achraf Dari scored for the Africans.
Accompanied en masse by their fans in Doha, Morocco were the revelations of the World Cup by becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals.
They accomplished this feat by beating a tough group of Croatia, Belgium and Canada, and powerhouses Spain and Portugal in the round of 16 and quarter-finals respectively.
“We will have to come back even stronger, the people will be waiting for us. We are happy in the end, we are among the four best teams in the world”, said the coach in front of the microphones of the French television station TF1.
In turn, goalkeeper Yassine Bono was sporty.
“It wasn’t easy because there was also a good team up front. I think that the team, despite the physical and especially mental fatigue from the game against France (in the 2-0 defeat in the semifinal), today, little by little, entered the game. And I don’t think we played a bad game. Football is like that, you have to accept it, you have to congratulate the team and congratulate the rival”, said the Sevilla goalkeeper.
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