Morocco coach Walid Regragui paid tribute to his players after continuing to write history with a 2-1 friendly victory over Brazil on Saturday, proving that reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was neither a fluke nor a fluke.
Morocco became the first Arab team to defeat Brazil after 26 consecutive world champions won five times over Arab teams, including twice defeating the “Atlas Lions” team, with a score of 2-0 in a friendly match in 1997 and a score of 3-0 in the 1998 World Cup.
“When we think we won against Brazil, I feel like we are dreaming,” Regragui told reporters. We have won Brazil the number one ranking in FIFA and the country of football.
He added: We entered history by achieving the first victory over Brazil.
The victory ignited more celebrations at the Ibn Battouta stadium in Tangiers in front of more than 65,000 fans, as the amazing atmosphere continued after the fans welcomed the players wonderfully in the first match of the “Atlas Lions” team after the historic achievement in the World Cup.
Sofiane Boufal advanced with a goal for Morocco after 29 minutes had passed, and Casemiro equalized after a mistake by goalkeeper Yassine Bono in the 67th minute, before substitute Abdel Hamid Sabri scored the winning goal with a powerful shot from inside the penalty area 11 minutes before the end.
The result proved the continuation of Morocco’s development with coach Regragui.
Morocco became the first Arab or African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, after winning in Qatar over giant teams such as Belgium and Spain, as well as Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Rekragui said: All the players fought, the first half was good, we were not good in the second, but I liked the fight and the defense did not back down and we clung to winning to make the fans happy and thank them for our support.
The coach, who on Friday secured his team’s qualification for the African Cup of Nations early next year, added: This people loves us and we share the same love for them. We always fight for it.
Regragui will try to take advantage of the state of brilliance and try to win a new friendly match against Peru in Madrid on Tuesday.
Regragui said: After defeating Brazil and with this high morale, we will strive to beat Peru as well, despite the difficulty and lack of time in the middle of the month of Ramadan.
