Morocco Coach Regragui Aims for World Cup History Against Portugal

Morocco is playing this Saturday for a place in the World Cup semi-finals. Beyond the game, the coach sees a real tool for bringing people together. "A national team must already be a flag-bearer on the field. It must represent its people, it must give emotions and bring people together. The objective for us at the start, of course, is to win matches. But we know very well that the image is important to be able to bring all Moroccans together around a project and positive things."

The Moroccan supporters have remained united, sharing all the emotions of the Atlas Lions. Walid Regragui acknowledges "the positive energy emanating from the supporters" that has propelled the team to this level of the competition. "If we have been able to bring Moroccans together around football for a given period, that is worth more than anything. More than money and even more than titles. It’s good, but we shouldn’t stop there and I told the players that."

Why stop at the quarter-finals when we have the opportunity to go further? For the coach, it would be interesting to win against Portugal in order to continue the adventure. "I haven’t yet climbed into the clouds. It’s good what’s happening outside, because we’re making people happy. But we don’t forget that we’re in the competition. What matters to us is to win Saturday’s match to go down in history and reach the semi-finals."