Regragui: What we have achieved is a simple debt repayment to our country. We have a generation with a new mentality

Moroccan national team coach Walid Rekragui said that he owes a lot to his country, stressing that he responded a small part of that by leading the "Atlas Lions" to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar for the first time in their history.

"I am happy today with this achievement, because I owe the debt to the Moroccan Federation and the Moroccan people for the trust they placed in me to take over this team and develop in Morocco as a coach. This is a simple response to this debt," Regragui said.

Born in Corbeil-Essonne, located in the southern suburbs of Paris, to parents who hail from the northern city of Fnideq on the Mediterranean coast, he added: "I consider myself a local product, although it is difficult to understand that because I have dual nationalities and grew up in France and obtained my degrees in France. I should not Forget it, but it was my home country that gave me my chance," referring to his work as coach of Al-Fateh Rabat, Wydad Casablanca and the Moroccan national team.

The Moroccan Federation resorted to the services of Al-Ragraki at the end of last August to succeed Bosnian Vahid Halilodjic, after he did well with Wydad Casablanca and led him to the double of the local league and the African Champions League and to the final match of the local cup competition.

"We have a new generation with a new mentality, and everything that was negative is in the past. We have evolved and our country too. We want to be competitive. This is not Morocco's 2018 national team, not even Spain 2018. We have shown that our country's national team is among the great teams. We are fighting for Morocco," Rekragui said. And this is what brings us together and strengthens us. Our ambition is to be a beautiful example for other countries, and we are also trying to be a locomotive in the African continent."

And he added, "The brown continent is developing, and many countries are making a lot of efforts for this, and Morocco has been doing this for more than 10 years, and the fruits are beginning to bear fruit."

He continued, "Since my arrival in the Moroccan League in 2014, after I worked as an assistant coach for the national team in 2013, many things have developed in Morocco, including stadiums, infrastructure and other things. The Moroccan Federation has made tremendous efforts, we have high-level stadiums."

He explained, "We entered the training field and obtained training for the frameworks and certificates from the African Union (CAF) for the game: CAF Pro, CAF A, and Caf B diplomas. We worked on training our frameworks, and this is not surprising as long as you are determined to go through this path and are patient."

He said, "We have three or four players from the Mohammed VI Academy graduates in the Moroccan national team, and this is the path that we must follow. Now, we must not sleep and continue to work. When we put the capabilities and means, work and be patient, there are results on the field. It is true that there is a little luck, but Lots of patience."

Regragui expressed his appreciation for the African teams' reliance on their local coaches.

The five representatives of Africa in the World Cup in Qatar competed with local coaches. In addition to Regragui, it was Jalal Kadri (Tunisia), Rigobert Song (Cameroon), Otto Addo (Ghana) and Aliou Cisse (Senegal).

Regragui, who became the first African coach in history to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup, congratulated his colleague Cisse, who led his country to the second round for the second time in its history before being knocked out by England. It is a matter of competencies, and if there is a competent local coach, he is better for me than the foreign coach.”

He continued, "I do not care about being the first African coach to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup. I do not like to personify things. If I have the skills, you will do good things. I worked hard to get here. I have limitless ambitions, and I try to convey that to the players. When I am an old man, maybe." I remember these moments and rejoice, but now I am happy with what the national team achieved with only a Moroccan coach. You have to trust them because Moroccan coaches are capable of achieving miracles."

And he concluded, "One last point that we must not forget. If it were not for the fans, we would not have achieved this achievement. They came and obtained visas and booked hotels to support us, and we also had the support of fans of other teams as well."

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