Morocco created one of the success stories in history of World Cups before going out of the title race.
Walid Regragui said his team has made the whole world proud with their stunning run in Qatar but the Atlas Lions need to do more hardwork to be capable of winning football’s top prize.
The North Africans amazed fans across the globe with a string of shocking victories at the World Cup before losing to defending champions France 2-0 in the semi-final on Wednesday.
Morocco became the first African and Arab side to play the World Cup semi-final after beating the likes of second-ranked Belgium, 2010 champions Spain and Euro 2016 winners Portugal.
The North Africans were one step away from becoming the first team from outside South America and Europe to play the final but Didier Deschamps’ side ended their dream run at Al Bayt Stadium.
Regragui said World Cup can’t be won by miracles with hardwork the only solution to becoming the best side.
“To reach the very, very highest level, to win a World Cup, we still have to work but we are not very far away,” said the Moroccan coach.
“My players gave everything and they’ve gone as far as they could. I really wanted to rewrite the history books, but you can’t win a World Cup with miracles, you need to do it through hard work. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
“We’re disappointed for the Moroccan people, we wanted to keep the dream alive. But we’re pleased with what we’ve achieved. We felt that we could have even gone even further but these small details help real champions, which we saw tonight, of course.”
“We gave the maximum, that’s the most important thing,” he said. “The most important thing is to have given a good image, to have shown the world that Moroccan football exists and that we have beautiful supporters.”
Morocco conceded an early goal with Theo Hernandez giving France lead with an acrobatic goal in the fifth minute before substitute Randal Kolo Muani sealed victory with a strike in 79th minute.
The North Africans had better possession against France but they were not up to the mark in the final third.
“We said that if they gave us the ball, we would take it. We did that but we made too many technical mistakes in the first half,” said the Morocco coach.
“In the second half we were smarter, we gave away fewer balls and we caused them problems, creating a lot of opportunities but we weren’t decisive in that final 30 metres,” he added.
Morocco battled injuries in the semi-final missing Nayef Aguerd and captain Romain Saiss, who had to withdraw after struggling for 21 minutes on the pitch.
“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.
We wanted to go to the final but... next time, God willing,” Regragui said.
Born in France, the Moroccan coach said he will support the Les Bleus in their final against Argentina on Sunday.
“Congratulations to DD. France are in the final and I hope they will win it,” said Regragui.
Morocco will face Croatia in the third position play-off at Khalifa International Stadium tomorrow.
Both the teams met in the group stage and played a goalless draw.
“It will be difficult on a mental level. I will give opportunities to those who did not play and we will try to clinch third place,” Regragui said.
“The important thing is that we presented a good look to our team and that football in Morocco is not far from the top level.”
