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World Cup 2022: the magical evening of Walid Regragui's "family"
Coach Walid Regragui carried in triumph by his players after the victory against Spain, December 6, 2022. AP - Abbie Parr
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
3 mins
Walid Regragui's Morocco achieved a historic feat by qualifying for the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday (December 6th).
A first in the history of the Atlas Lions, who eliminated Spain after penalties (0-0, 3 penalties to 0).
The coach savors, while already turning to the future.
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From our special envoy to Qatar,
On the one hand, there was the sadness of Luis Enrique, the Spanish coach.
And on the other, there was the joy of a Moroccan selection that struggled to win a qualification in front of white-hot supporters, for this first World Cup in the Arab world.
For the first, the post-match atmosphere is necessarily less festive.
"
It was a good match
," commented the former player and coach of FC Barcelona.
Fourth African team to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup
The Atlas Lions eliminated Spain
after the penalty shootout (0-0, 3 shots on goal to 0), and no one could have hoped for so much before the start of the tournament.
But the Moroccan coach, Walid Regragui, has often said that sometimes you have to “
dream
” to achieve your goal.
The Moroccans defended bravely and intelligently, trying to take advantage of Spain's losses to launch counterattacks.
Walid Regragui, who '
loves
' La Roja's '
possession
' game, hoped Spain '
wouldn't know what to do with the ball
'.
It was a bit like that.
Morocco is now the fourth African team to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup after Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. After the 1986 generation, which had reached the stage for the first time of the round of 16, here is the 2022 generation, with in particular its goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, hero of the penalty shootout.
Walid Regragui can congratulate himself, he who did not want his players to have an “
inferiority complex as an African nation
”.
"
Why can't an African country win the World Cup in the next 20 years
?
“, he asked the day before this shock, at a press conference.
Another mountain to climb
“
We have a lot of injuries.
We gave so much energy against Spain.
It will be hard, we will have to throw players who were on the bench
”indicates the technician
.
He adds: “
All our supporters gave us strength to climb this mountain.
I am very proud and I dedicate this victory to all those who support us.
It's hard to realize what we've done.
»
Walid Regragui is now focused on the next meeting, another mountain to climb, against the
winner of the Portugal-Switzerland match
: “
We will focus on the next match.
We are a family
.
“A family that can begin to dream of a semi-final.
It seems that with coach Regragui, nothing is impossible.
And Sofiane Boufal does not hide his pride in having such a coach.
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