Morocco coach Walid Regragui has revealed they will be supporting France in the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina.
Morocco’s adventurous journey at the World Cup came to an end on Wednesday when they fell 2-0 against the defending champions France.
Theo Hernandez gave the European side a dream start inside five minutes before Randal Kolo Muani sealed the win after the break.
Despite a spirited performance by the Atlas Lions, Les Bleus held on to secure a final spot where they will face Argentina on Sunday.
Regragui was impressed with the way the defending champions played and he has stated he is now going to support France.
“We are going to support them [France] now. The whole world is proud of this Moroccan team,” Regragui told the media.
“We showed desire, played hard, and have given a good image of Morocco and of African football. We were representing our country and our continent. People already respected us but I think they respect us more now.
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“Congratulations to France. I said before the match, they are a very good side and they were well-placed to win the game but in spite of all the injuries we had, the tiredness, we pulled out all the stops, gave them everything, caused them problems and that is already quite an achievement.
“You can’t win a World Cup with miracles, you need to win it through hard work and that is what we will do, we will keep working.”
Morocco were the first and only team from Africa to make it into the last four of a World Cup.
Initially, Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana were the only teams from the continent to have made it to the quarter-finals.
In this edition, Africa was represented by Senegal, the Atlas Lions, Ghana, Cameroon and Tunisia. Only the Teranga Lions and the Moroccan side survived the group stage.
Aliou Cisse’s Senegal fell to England in the Round of 16.
On Saturday, the Atlas Lions will play Croatia in the third-place playoff. The latter fell 3-0 against Argentina in the first semi-final.