Morocco coach Walid Regragui said his team’s 2-0 semifinal loss to France at the World Cup doesn’t take away from everything they did to get there and showed they are not far from the top levels of world football.
The African side, which won their group then beat Spain and Portugal in the knockout rounds to set up the semi against the defending champions, had an injury crisis ahead of Wednesday’s decisive match, but Regragui said there was no room for excuses.
– Olley: France’s win sets up chance 60 years in making
– World Cup VAR: Why Morocco didn’t get first-half penalty call
“We gave the maximum, that’s the most important,” Regragui said. “We had some injuries, we lost [Nayef] Aguerd in the warm-up, [Romain] Saiss, [Noussair] Mazraoui [during the game], but there are no excuses.
“We paid for the slightest mistake. We didn’t get into the game well, we had too much technical waste in the first half, and the second goal kills us, but that doesn’t take away everything we did before.”
