Morocco’s Regragui Sets Sights on 2024 AFCON Victory After World Cup Success

Walid Regragui’s next goal with the Moroccan national team is to reach at least the semi-finals at the next 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire, and at best, to win the cup. To achieve this goal, the coach intends to maintain the same state of mind of cohesion, solidity and keep the same degree of competitiveness as during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he said in an interview Tuesday with the Saudi channel "MBC5", on the sidelines of the preparations for the friendly match against Brazil scheduled for Saturday in Tangier. After Brazil, Morocco will also face Peru in a friendly match on Tuesday in Madrid.

"The performances of the national team in previous AFCONs have never reflected the true level of national football. I want to change that to keep the bar high. Now that we have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, the ambition is to stay in the same pace, to always reach the semi-finals in competitions, including the AFCON. Then there may be accidents along the way, but the ambition will be to stay in the same state of mind. So we will go to Côte d’Ivoire as contenders, but we have to be up to our goals, namely at least reaching the semi-finals," he said.

The Moroccan coach does not intend to rest on his laurels, aware that he will have to maintain the cohesion and level of the team after the World Cup to hope to take on the next challenges. "After the World Cup, I know we won’t have just highs. Between the World Cup and the Africa Cup, we could lose one or two games. To be honest, I hope the team loses a game or two to come down from this frenzy and be aware that it’s always hard to win duels. [...] We have still young, ambitious players. Moreover, our common goal will be to win one of the next two AFCONs to enter history forever," Regragui said.

After the two friendly matches against Brazil and Peru, Morocco will face South Africa in June and Liberia in September to better prepare for the AFCON. "In June, we will face South Africa and I hope another big African team to stay at the same level of difficulty. In September, we will face Liberia at home, and I also hope to face another team from the continent. After that, it will depend on the calendar in Africa," said coach Regragui.