It was a step too far, said Walid Regragui. Not because Morocco didn’t have the quality but “athletically and physically.” Many players, the coach said, played at 60% to 80% from the start of the Fifa World Cup. Some like skipper Romain Saiss couldn’t last the night. Nayef Aguerd couldn’t even begin it.
So the dream ended but not before Morocco produced a version of themselves this World Cup has not seen. It was a stirring display of attacking vigour that severely tested the defending champions till Randal Kolo Muani’s goal that made it 2-0. “That kind of extinguished our hope,” said Regragui.
Morocco will now support France in the final, he said. “It will be good if (Kylian) Mbappe wins it because then we can say we lost to the world champions.”
The second goal was created by Mbappe who, like he did against Denmark, found space in a crowded area to find Kolo Muani who had come on a minute before his 79th minute strike. Mbappe had been having a quiet night till then. One real spark and he will now play a second successive World Cup final. One that could see either he or Lionel Messi win the Golden Boot. Both have five goals. Mbappe has two assists, Messi three.
“With a mix of skill, experience and fighter’s mindset, even in bad times,” was how coach Didier Deschamps described they had pulled through in the semi-final. France are the first team since Brazil in 1998 to make the final as defending champions. “The coaching staff and I will try our best to be even happier on Sunday,” said Deschamps.
The Al Bayt Stadium whose architecture is a hat-tip to the nomads of Qatar had Moroccans temporarily take over the place. Like it has been at all their games, the stands were predominantly red and from when the Cherifian Anthem was belted out, this had the look and feel of Morocco playing at home. Theo Hernandez’s goal from a volley difficult to execute – and reminiscent of Gerd Mueller’s effort in the 1970 World Cup against England – after Jawad El Yamiq failed to intercept a Raphael Varane pass had forced a change in plans and Morocco adapted like they were ready for such an eventuality.
“If I have any regrets, it’s about the beginning,” said Regragui after his first defeat as Morocco coach. The early goal gave France more confidence “but we were giving them issues in the first half.” If Yamiq’s scissors-kick and Azzedine Ounahi’s clean strike didn’t fetch the equaliser, it was because Hugo Lloris, who now shares the World Cup record of 19 games as a goalkeeper with Manuel Neuer, produced two excellent saves.
“They were outstanding towards the end of the first half and the beginning of the second,” said Deschamps.
Morocco had more of the ball and more attempts on target in the first half. They continued in the same vein after the interval and it needed crucial interceptions from Ibrahima Konate and Antoine Griezmann to deny the first African team in a World Cup semi-final. When Aurelien Tchouameni dithered and was dispossessed, Abderrazak Hamdallah threatened. Morocco had never been this adventurous and France could have killed the game in the first half had Olivier Giroud been more accurate but Regragui said he had no regrets.
“With the talent they have offensively, we knew we could be punished any moment. They are a big team and able to win without showing too much,” he said.
That Morocco did it with first-choice centre-backs pulling out by the 21st minute made the performance even more praiseworthy. Aguerd couldn’t start because he hadn’t recovered from a bout of influenza and having failed to get ahead of Giroud after France lobbed another long ball, Saiss realised he couldn’t continue.
It led to Morocco switching to a back four, one that surprised Regragui by playing better. Hakim Ziyach, Youssef En-Neysri and Sofiane Boufal moved further up forcing France to deal with red heat and produce an encounter worthy of a World Cup semi-final. “But we lacked decisiveness in the last 30 metres.”
The effort of defensively shutting out Spain and then Portugal before giving France a scare is “equal to a World Cup title,” according to Regragui. “It will be hard for the boys since they really wanted to make history. We have to work more to come back even stronger.”
Crucial to that, he said, would be to make World Cup finals regularly. “We can’t wait for 20 years for it to happen. For now, the first round has to feel normal for Morocco. We have to compete regularly to prove that we didn’t get to this point by accident.”
The Atlas Lions made the finals in Russia but that was 20 years after they had qualified last. This was Morocco’s sixth finals appearance and only the second time after 1986 that they had got out of the group stage.