Everyone Wants To Beat Morocco Now – Regragui

Morocco coach, Walid Regragui believes that the Atlas Lions are now the number target in African football. It is every African national team’s ambition to beat Morocco, according to the FIFA World Cup Bronze medal winner.

“Everyone wants to beat Morocco now. The team has done well over the last few years and what I have also learned is that every team wants to beat us, which makes it more difficult for us to win. This also helps us to improve so we welcome it,” Regragui told media ahead of the team’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa in Johannesburg.

Both teams have qualified for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament to be staged in Ivory Coast in January 2024. While it may be a dead rubber in terms of qualification, there are rankings and bragging rights on the line when the two teams kick off at the iconic FNB Stadium. South Africa would ideally love to improve on their world and Africa rankings.

“They have a lot of good players from Sundowns who play good offensive football, but this means we also need to play and show that we are a big team in Africa,” stressed Regragui, who also won the CAF Champions League with Wydad Casablanca.

Regragui called up all his star players from Europe’s top leagues including Hakim Ziyech, Achraf Hakimi, and the free-scoring Youssef En-Nesyri to show how seriously he is taking the clash against Bafana Bafana. The match is scheduled to kick off at 15:00 GMT.