World Cup: Morocco boss Walid Regragui says his side can be proud after France loss

Morocco coach Walid Regragui claimed there was no shame in losing to France in their 2-0 World Cup semi-final, saying his team had showed their country ‘exists’.

Theo Hernandez struck early on but Morocco – the first African semi-finalists in history – more than matched their illustrious opponents before substitute Randal Kolo Muani’s first France goal secured a 2-0 win in the closing stages.

There will be subplots aplenty on Sunday as France face Argentina, Lionel Messi up against club-mate Kylian Mbappe at the forefront, but this was a night where Morocco proved their shock progression into the last four was no fluke, going toe-to-toe with the reigning champions as well as having a strong penalty claimed turned down.

Morocco boss Walid Regragui says his side showed football in their country exists after their incredible World Cup run came to an end

The North African team were beaten 2-0 by France in the sem-finals, but Regragui told the squad to lift their heads high

And after the full-time whistle, Regragui said Morocco have helped the image of African football on a global stage and that he will now be cheering on France in Sunday’s final.

‘We are going to support them (France) now,’ he added.

‘The whole world is proud of this Moroccan team. We showed desire, played hard and have given a good image of Morocco and of African football. 

‘The most important thing is to have shown a good face, to have shown that football in Morocco exists and that we have great supporters

The coach believes ‘the whole world’ are proud of his players, and said they would support Kylian Mbappe and France in the final 

‘We were representing our country and our continent. People already respected us but I think they respect us more now.

‘Congratulations to France. I said before the match, they are a very good side and they were well-placed to win the game but in spite of all the injuries we had, the tiredness, we pulled out all the stops, gave them everything, caused them problems and that is already quite an achievement.

‘You can’t win a World Cup with miracles, you need to win it through hard work and that is what we will do, we will keep working.’

For the Morocco players and their energetic coach, this turned out to be one dream too far having already beaten Belgium, Spain and Portugal – ending the hopes of Eden Hazard, Sergio Busquets and Cristiano Ronaldo en route to a historic semi-final.

Regragui was keen to reward the players who had claimed the scalps of Belgium, Spain and Portugal but that plan backfired even before kick-off.

But he said he had no regrets after his decision to name captain Romain Saiss and Nayef Aguerd in his starting line-up for their World Cup semi-final loss to France. 

West Ham defender Aguerd, who had been struggling with a thigh injury, replaced by Achraf Dari after the warm-up, while Saiss limped off 20 minutes into the tie.

‘Until the last minute we weren’t sure, we waited until the last minute to see if Romain could play. He is such an important player for us, our captain,’ he said, admitting his squad were on their ‘last legs’.

‘Nayef was recovering from flu and wanted to play as well, I thought it was best to play with three defenders so they didn’t have too much to run at.

‘We made a lot of mistakes and then Romain had to go off and we changed to a four-man defence and actually played better.

‘I have no regrets about the decision. Nayef’s absence was difficult and all of these little things meant we got off to quite a poor start, you learn from your mistakes, I do as well. If all our squad was fit we could have caused them even more problems.

‘At a World Cup, this was one step too far, not in terms of quality or tactics but physically, we had too many players at 60-70 per cent.’