Morocco coach Walid Regragui has backed his team and their style in the press conference ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup semi-final against France.
Morocco reached the semi-final by beating Portugal 1-0 and now they are the first African country to ever reach that stage of the tournament.
When asked about the dream and the chances of actually winning the World Cup, Regragui spoke with confidence.
Many have suggested that Morocco do not play an entertaining style of football with lots of possession, but Regragui thinks that is irrelevant.
“We’ll play the way we know how. How possession makes you dream so much! 70% possession to shoot twice on goal? I’m going to tell Infantino to give a point to teams with more than 60% possession,” Regragui joked.
“We are here to win, not to have possession. If they give it to us then fine, we’ll see and we’ll do whatever it takes not to get beat. I don’t think they will let us have possession. Manchester City have 70%, but have you seen the players they have? With Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva you’re going to have the ball.
“They talk about tiki-taka, when you have players who can do that it’s fine. I know that the Europeans criticise our game. We have to win for Africa, for the countries that are evolving. There is not just one style. Look at France against England, less possession but they won.
“They are the best. The France of 2018 made me dream. Didier Deschamps is the best in the world. I hope France don’t respect us tomorrow. If they do it will be more complicated.”
Regragui still appears confident about Morocco’s chances of making it to the final, despite the fact they will come up against a quality team like France.
“It’s getting more complicated as it goes on. We are going to play against the champions, with great players and the best coach in the world. We believe we can go through and, why not win the World Cup. We are not tired, I want to make it clear, we are going to run,” Regragui said.
Mentality is going to be key for Morocco in the semi-final considering they have the weight of Africa and the Arab world on their shoulders.
“I have told them that we have come to change the mentality of our continent. We didn’t get here by chance but I told them that we can’t be complacent. We’re confident and we’ve had the most difficult journey. We have been eliminated many times and we are still here. We are going to fight to move forward, for the African countries, for the Arab world. Our country respects all cultures, we are welcoming and sometimes we don’t ask for anything in return,” said Regragui.
