West Ham Star Nayef Aguerd Honors Mother as Inspiration Behind World Cup Success

"For me, she’s a superwoman. For me, she’s done everything, she’s done everything," Nayef Aguerd said in an interview with CNN. His mother is his source of inspiration and motivation. "Don’t say you’re poor, because you only think about money. But we’re not poor, you’re healthy, you’re smart and you can study, you’re in good shape, you have three meals a day, why would you say you’re poor?" she would often tell him. Motivating words that have forged the character and personality of the Moroccan central defender.

His goal, he will say, is to make his mother proud: "Many players have goals. I’m not talking about rewards or clubs, but personal goals. As for me, my goal is to make my mother proud of me, since I was little, and I won’t stop. I’m 27 years old, and even if I’m 35, my goal is to make her proud. And when I stop playing football and decide to do something else, it will always be the same until my last breath."

During the interview, Nayef also discussed the celebrations of the Atlas Lions of Morocco with their mothers on the field after the match against Portugal at the World Cup (1-0 in favor of Morocco). "It wasn’t something we had planned before the competition," he confided. "When you’re in school - I’ll give an example - and you get good results, you pass an exam or something like that, the first person you’re going to tell - I’m a man, we’re not going to tell our father - we’re going to go tell our mother. It’s normal. It’s the same in football."

And he continued: "If we win the first game and you see your mother watching the game, of course you’ll be like a child, you’ll want to dance with her and tell her: ’I’m very happy, we’ve succeeded’. That’s all there is to it. Now, when I talk to my mother, she’s always wondering: ’When’s the next competition?’ She’s already thinking about other competitions."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFJrOMr6oT4