For the first time in World Cup history, an African team will play in the semi-finals. Morocco defeated Portugal (1-0) on Saturday in the quarter-finals, after defeating Spain in the eighth round (0-0, 3-0 on penalties). Morocco expects to face its opponent – France or England – on Wednesday at Al-Bayt Stadium in Al Khor city, Qatar.
“It's crazy,” Sofiane Boufal reacted on TF1. We are living a dream and do not want to wake up. I felt goosebumps. “And now?” There remains the semi-final and, God willing, the final. I wish the French team success and hope to find them in the semi-finals. »
Central front Youssef Al-Nusairi The Spanish team took advantage of the loss of the opportunity to leave Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa to score the only goal of the match in the quarter-finals (42nd) with a beautiful header. But the Atlas Lions' victory was not at all deserved against a generally disappointing team, who faced Yassine Bounou who was still in style in their cages, as in this strike from Bruno Fernandes that headed towards the top corner (83rd minute). .
Walid Regragui, from firefighter to hero
Coach Walid Regragui commented on beIN Sports about his team’s defensive style: “I don’t even understand how anyone can criticize us.” We play with our values, we play with our hearts. Football is like that. We lost a lot of good players before the World Cup, and some during it. We fight with our weapons and I think this is good for football. We have a unique combination that, if we are in our tactical position, we can move mountains. This is what we did today. »
actually Private Naif Aqrd In this quarter, Morocco lost another centre-back on Saturday, captain Romain Saiss, who departed shortly before the hour mark, but it would have taken a lot to break the dynamism of a team supported 90% of the Thumama Stadium by a whole country and a whole diaspora from Doha.
“It was impossible to dream of that,” said Regragui, who was appointed at the beginning of September to replace Vahid Halilhodzic, in a conflict with several players. I arrived three months ago as a firefighter, traveled a lot and worked a lot with the players. We even clashed sometimes with some, but they understood where I wanted to go. » At present, the final station has not been reached.
