Morocco Coach, Regragui, Taps into Saudi Win ahead of Croatia Clash
Morocco are fired up by Saudi Arabia’s stunning upset of World Cup favourites Argentina, their coach Walid Regragui said as he backed his team to pull off a similar feat when they face Croatia in their first Group F match today.
The Saudis, the second-lowest ranked team at the World Cup and coached by former Morocco boss Herve Renard, beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-1 to deliver one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history.
Morocco are 10 places below 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia in the world rankings and Regragui said his team were inspired by the way the Saudis had outplayed Argentina.
“What is the reality of football as we know it?” Regragui told a pre-match news conference.
“I watched the Saudi Arabia game earlier – 31 per cent possession and they had three shots on target, but they won against Argentina, against the best player in history.
“If Croatia doesn’t allow us to have full possession tomorrow, OK, then we need to be very strong at the back. If they decide to give us that playing time, then we need to know exactly what we’re doing with the ball when we have it.”
Renard helped rebuild the Moroccan national team, taking them to the World Cup in Russia four years ago in their first appearance at the tournament since 1998.
Regragui congratulated Renard on the victory and said he aspired to follow in his footsteps.
“This shakes things up on the international stage because football actually belongs to everyone,” Regragui added.
“You do have FIFA rankings, but you should respect all football players, championships and leagues.
“For a coach such as myself, I want to follow in his footsteps. I hope he’s opened the door for us. He’s shown us what we can do and I hope we’ll be able to feel the same as Saudi Arabia.”
Morocco captain Romain Saiss said the Saudi win proved once again that anything was possible in football.
“When you see the result (Saudi Arabia) were able to have against one of the favourites it gets your creative juices flowing,” he added.
“It whets our appetite.”
“If you’re able to put the ingredients into mix you can beat anyone. That’s exactly what Renard has done. He’s opened that door for us and it’s up to us to follow in their footsteps tomorrow.”
TIT BITS
- The Main Reason for Longer Extra Time
Most of the matches at the on-going FIFA World Cup have lasted even up to 100 minutes with plenty added time. The England/Iran match broke records with 14 added minutes in the first half and 10 the second stanza! “What we already did in Russia 2018 was to more accurately calculate the time to be compensated “ famous former referee and chairman of FIFA referee committee, Pierluigi Collina explained. On record, Senegal/Holland was eight added minutes, Wales/USA was nine minutes added
- Brazil/ Germany Dwarf Others with Most World Cup Matches
The duo has won the World cup title more than the rest of Football Power house but one other thing in common that has made them better than the rest. Brazil and Germany before their matches at the on-going tournament played a tournament-high of 109 matches. Except both teams are eliminated at same stage, there is a possibility that one of them may edge each other out depending on who go farther. Others in the pack like Argentina and Italy are distant third with 81 matches.
- Coach Didier Deschamps Set the Pace
Among the mangers that are at the on-going tournament, Didier Deschamps holds the record of most World cup matches than the rest in the pack. The captain of Les Bleus that won the World Cup on home soil in 1998, has managed France in 12 more matches than any other manager at this tournament.
- Tunisia/Denmark Share Record with Draw
When both sides met yesterday in the opening match of C, it was the first goalless outing so far at the on-going tournament. However both sides shared a peculiar records because Denmark has remained unbeaten by any African team at World Cup with two wins and two draws while Tunisia has never prevailed against any Europe country with three draws and seven loses.
