Morocco head coach Walid Regragui says his team deserved a place in the final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, reports Completesports.com.
The Atlas Lions edged Nigeria 4-2 on penalties after a goalless semi-final in Rabat on Wednesday night.
Morocco will be playing in final of the AFCON for the first time in 21 years.
Read Also:AFCON 2025: Not Again –Nwabali Laments Super Eagles’ Loss To Morocco
The hosts will face the Terangha Lions of Senegal in the final on Sunday.
“I thank everyone who supported us. We received very touching messages, and they had a big impact on us. I thank our players—we are very proud of them—and I also thank the Moroccan fans who truly deserve this achievement,” Regragui was quoted by CAFonline.
“We suffered a lot, and reaching the Africa Cup of Nations final on home soil is a beautiful gift. Now we must think about physical recovery quickly because we made a huge effort. We played extra time, the match was difficult, and it consumed a lot of energy.
“I congratulate the Nigerian national team and coach Eric Chelle for the great work they have done, and I congratulate our players and fans as well, because we all fought together without exception.”
By Adeboye Amosu
2 Comments
Immediately I saw a Ghanaian referee, I knew Naija would lose.
Ghana is a bad luck. It’s very obvious he wanted Naija to lose.
When I saw the referee face, my question was, is the referee a Ghanaian?
“Wow! Forget this match I said “
Morocco clearly didn’t come to the pitch to play but to stop us from playing. It’s just a typical Mourinho-style negative football approach when his team comes up against stronger opponents.
Yet the little opportunities we fashioned out almost resulted in a goal. Their marked men were, in particular were Iwobi, Osimhen. Lookman, and Akor. The instruction was that the ball must never get to these 4 and anytime it manages to, 3 – 4 Moroccan players should crowd out the Nigerian player. Our players couldn’t breathe.
They had more shots at goal as a result. If we had half of the chances they got or they allowed our players even half an inch to breathe and play, we would have won cos we have sharper, more lethal, and more intelligent front 3 + Iwobi. Their coach really did his homework; that’s a detailed analysis of our attacking strength from the midfield to the front men.
That said, I think one area Chelle needs to improve in is his list of penalty takers. No one can accuse Nwabali of not always doing his part, but the coach doesn’t seem to know his best penalty takers.
For yesterday’s penalty, I would have selected:
– Onuachu
– Dele Bashiru
– Onyeka
– Akor
– Onyedika
These are all players who have scored for the SE, but not in the spotlight, so no pressure on them. They know how to shoot at the goal with a high probability of the ball going in. Not Bruno, who’s never scored. Not Chukwueze, who only scores once in a blue moon and probably has a ratio of 1/5 conversion rate.
Of course, I won’t pick Osimhen for penalty cos of the pressure on him, plus as a striker, they’re not usually direct shooters like midfielders. I won’t pick Lookman for the same reason, neither Iwobi. These are likely to miss. But the pressure on Akor is less, so I may pick him.
Tbh, we don’t have many natural penalty takers though.