Ambitious Morocco boss says his country wants to WIN World Cup as they look to become first African team to reach semis
WORLD CUP dark horses Morocco are in it to win at with manager Walid Regragui saying his team “want to be world champions”.
The North African team have been one of the World Cup‘s surprise packages, topping their group consisting of 2018 finalists Croatia, Belgium’s golden generation and Canada.
They then took on World Cup 2010 winners Spain in the round of 16, a country they neighbour, separated by the Strait of Gibraltar.
And they held the Spaniards to a 0-0 stalemate for 120 minutes before beating them 3-0 on penalties.
Morocco became the fourth African country to reach the last eight of the World Cup, behind Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.
They will now face Portugal in the quarters on Saturday for a place in the semis, where they could meet current World Cup holders France or England.
And manager Regragui has insisted his team want to win the World Cup and become world champions.
He says the whole of Africa, and Arabs, are behind Morocco.
On the clash with Portugal, Regragui said: “Portugal is the favourite in this bracket, but we also want to be world champions.
“We feel that we are not just a country, but a continent.
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“All of Africa is with us and the Arabs too.”
Beating Portugal, then one of France or England, and then one of Argentina, Holland, Brazil or Croatia in the final would better Morocco ace Sofiane Boufal’s prediction.
The ex-Southampton ace predicted back in September that Morocco would make the quarter-finals of the winter tournament.