Morocco coach, Walid Regragui has declared his support for France ahead of the World Cup final against Argentina on Sunday.
Regragui became the first coach to lead an African country to the semi-final of the World Cup, after Morocco beat Portugal in the last eight.
Morocco will now support France in the final, he said. “It will be good if (Kylian) Mbappe wins it because then we can say we lost to the world champions.”
Morocco’s coach Walid Regragui had only praise for his team’s effort following their defeat, saying that the most important thing was that “We gave our all.”
“The boys fought until the last minute… We wanted to win the game, but we came up against a strong team that knows what it is doing and waits for you to make a mistake – which we made at the beginning of the game,” he said, referring to Theo Hernandez’s fifth-minute opener.
He had to deal with several players struggling with fitness issues; Centre-back Nayef Aguerd withdrew after the warm-up, and Romain Saiss (doubtful) started but had to go off after only 21 minutes.
“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,” Regragui said.
Regragui continued that his team has “given a good image” of Moroccan and African football, placing them on a global stage.
Morocco will now play Croatia, with whom they drew in their opening game of the tournament, in the third place playoff on Saturday. France advanced to face Argentina in Sunday’s final at Lusail Stadium.
