Regragui: Facing Croatia is the worst match Morocco will play
Moroccan national team coach Walid Regragui admitted that playing the third-place match for the Qatar 2022 World Cup against Croatia on Saturday was "the worst match we could play," because the ambition was to be in the final.
Morocco wished to culminate its historic career in the World Cup in Qatar by reaching the final, but the adventure ended at the round of four, losing to France, the defending champion, 0-2.
As always, coaches find it difficult to motivate their players in order to play a game that is considered a "consolation prize", but Regragui will try to "beautify" the third place to motivate his players.
"I think it is the worst match we can play. But we are still excited to play it despite the feeling of disappointment," Rekragui said, on the eve of the scheduled match at Khalifa Stadium, in a replay of the group stage match that ended in a goalless draw against Luka Mordic and his companions.
He continued, "Of course, we would have preferred to be in the final, but there is the third place that we have to play for. We want to finish (the championship) on the podium."
And he admitted, "It will be difficult because of fatigue, and there is also the mental barrier that we must overcome. We know that Croatia also wants to finish (the tournament) third."
When asked if there was any third-place match in the history of the World Cup stuck in his mind, Regragui replied, "Honestly, this ranking meeting bothers me a bit. It is always complicated, whether it is for us or Croatia, after the disappointment of losing the semi-finals, you have to after Two days to play a game... It's a stupid game if we're third or fourth... I would say the same thing about second place if we were in the final because we want to be the winners."
Although they would have certainly preferred to play the final, as is the case of the Croats, the Moroccan players will not "need motivation" to fight in Saturday's meeting, according to Rekragui, "because we are in the World Cup and we represent Morocco. Every match is important, even the friendly, for our fans."
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