Ecstatic Regragui urges Morocco gamers, followers to maintain dreaming of extra historical past

Walid Regragui’s dream of his Morocco staff turning into Africa’s first World Cup semi-finalists got here true on Saturday however he stated they will go even additional within the event and proceed making historical past as they search to encourage future generations.

Morocco grew to become the primary African and Arab nation to achieve the final 4 with a surprising 1-0 upset of Portugal, the most recent scalp of their reputation-shredding run in Qatar that has damaged new floor for the game outdoors Europe and South America.

Youssef En-Nesyri’s towering first-half header earned them the victory which sparked euphoric scenes on the Al Thumama Stadium and left them one sport away from the World Cup last.

“What’s important for future generations is we’ve shown that it is possible for an African team to get to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Or even the final, why not?” an ecstatic Regragui informed reporters.

“In one press conference three or four matches ago, I was asked we could win the World Cup. And I said, ‘Why not?’ We can dream. Why shouldn’t we dream? If you don’t dream, you don’t get anywhere. It doesn’t cost you anything.”

“European countries are used to winning the World Cup, so we’re going to have to try and get in there, and go beyond ourselves.”

Having already made a mockery of their unfancied standing after topping a troublesome Group F forward of Croatia and Belgium, Morocco toppled Spain on penalties earlier than taking down Portugal to proceed their extraordinary run.

They will as soon as once more be up in opposition to European giants of their bid to rewrite historical past, taking up France or England, who play later, on Wednesday for a spot within the last.

“The message I’m trying to get to the players is to be confident, go out there and give everything, and have no regrets. And they believed me,” Regragui stated.

“Of course it’s great to come to the World Cup, to play those three group stage games. We have elite players, and we have a team that can win games at the World Cup. Sometimes you exaggerate things, but they actually believed it and they’ve now shown that they are capable of performing at this level.”

Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou added: “As our coach said, we’re here to change the mentality. This feeling of inferiority, we need to get rid of it… The generation coming after us will now know that Moroccan players can create miracles.”