Morocco’s Selim Amallah and Sofyan Amrabat train with team-mates. REUTERS
Doha: Morocco coach Walid Regragui has insisted the Atlas Lions would have preferred playing on Sunday instead of the third-place playoff match against Croatia at the Khalifa International Stadium today.
Croatia and Morocco meet for the second time at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 seeking a victorious end to a remarkable campaign. Their first encounter, in the opening Group F fixture, ended goalless.
Both countries had met in 1996 in Casablanca, which ended in a draw, but Croatia prevailed 7-6 on penalties.
“I understand it’s important to finish third rather than fourth, but my takeaway is we didn’t reach the final,” Regragui said yesterday.
“We wanted to play the final on Sunday, not tomorrow (today). But I told my players this is our seventh World Cup game. If you told any Morocco fan we would be playing our seventh game on December 17; they would be proud.”
Morocco made history when they beat Portugal in the quarter-final to become the first African and Arab nation to reach the semi-final at a World Cup. Their previous best performance had come in 1986 when they were knocked out in the Round of 16 by Germany. The North Africans missed out on the 1990 tournament before back-to-back qualification in 1994 and 1998. A period o hiatus followed from 2002 to 2018, but they lost all their games in Russia.
“Morocco played six World Cup games in 20-odd years, and now we’ve played six games in a month - this is priceless. It’s as if we played two World Cups or even more. That’s beautiful from an experience point of view,” Regragui added. The 47-year-old also hailed Croatia as one of the best teams in the tournament and for bouncing back from their opening-day draw.
“We knew Croatia were going to be one of the best teams in the competition. After the first game, we knew the performance was very good. A lot of people said Croatia were approaching the end of their cycle and would have the rug swept out from under their feet. Croatia got stick for not beating ‘underdogs’ Morocco, but both teams reached the semi-final.
“Both teams will want to win it (on Saturday), and it will be a great game,” he added.
Speaking on Croatia legend Luka Modric, Regragui said he doesn’t know if it would be the 37-year-old’s last game for his country but called him a competitive warrior who would want to finish his World Cup in style.
“When he wants to finish on a great note, we should be wary. Hats off to Modric; what he’s doing at 37 is monumental. He was a Ballon d’Or winner, and I completely understand why,” Regragui added.
Victory for Morocco would see them record the best finish of a non-European or South American nation in the FIFA World Cup since 1930 when the USA finished third.
Croatia’s players during a training session at Al Erssal Training Site 3 in Doha, yesterday, on the eve of the World Cup third place play-off match against Morocco. AFP
Third-place is a final
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic insists the encounter is a ‘big final’ for both sides, adding Morocco would be motivated to win just as the European nation.
Croatia, finalists four years ago, were humbled by Argentina in the semi-final, but Dalic stressed his side still have a chance to play for the medal.
“It is a big game. It is the battle for the medal. We have the utmost respect for the Moroccan squad, for all they have done on this World Cup, one of the most pleasant surprises of this competition,” Dalic told reporters.
“I think they are approaching this game the same way as we are. A big chance for them, they will play with the strongest team possible. We know this is like a “big finals game” for both teams.
“When we look at the overall situation from the semi-finals, it looks like that was the maximal reach for both our teams. We couldn’t proceed further. Therefore, this is sort of the big finals for the smaller teams,” he added.
The 56-year-old also drew parallels between the current Morocco team and his Croatian side that beat the odds to reach the final four years ago.
“Nobody expected them this far up, but they came to the semi-finals with their quality, togetherness and emotions. They have great support from their fans. That is why tomorrow awaits a tougher match than the group qualifiers. I don’t think they fear anyone. They will be a tough opponent for us tomorrow,” Dalic added.
Heading into today’s game, Croatia are unbeaten in their previous three World Cup matches against African nations (W2 D1) and have kept clean sheets in each of those matches.
Meanwhile, there has never been a penalty shootout in the playoff for third place in a FIFA World Cup final competition. Both teams have experienced shootouts in Qatar -- Croatia twice in the last 16 and quarter-final, while Morocco knocked out Spain in the Round of 16.
