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Walid Regragui is facing his second challenge as he leads the Morocco national football team at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), to be held in the upcoming days in Cote d’Ivoire. His first challenge as an Atlas Lions coach was that of accepting to manage the team only three months before the World Cup and yet end up as a semi-finalist.
«I think that only a crazy coach like me would accept this job three months before the World cup», Regragui told CNN in an interview published Friday, January 12.
«No European coach would’ve taken on the national team, and I don’t think there is a local coach who dared to take on the challenge», recalled the coach who had other plans back in 2023 when approached by the Morocco Royal Football Federation.
«I had just won the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champion’s League with Wydad AC, so my goal was to play in the Club World Cup, maybe dream of coaching in Europe one day, so it was an evolution of my career. The national team was to come perhaps much later», he recalled.
At the World Cup, held in Qatar, Morocco was the exception of the international tournament, becoming the first African and Arab team to reach the semi-finals. Unlike all expectations, the Morocco team defeated two giant teams that were seen as favorites to win the tournament, namely Spain and Portugal.
This sets the bar very high for the North African team, seen now as a favorite to win Afcon. The last and only time the Atlas Lions won an African cup was in 1976, when the tournament was held in Ethiopia. Since then, Morocco, which proved to be a good team couldn’t win the long-desired cup. In 2004, now-coach Regragui was part of the squad that reached the finals of Afcon and lost to Tunisia.
«This is not the first time Morocco will arrive as favourite and a potential winner but, unfortunately, we have not managed to be regularly among the last four», regragui told Reuters earlier this week.
«It shows that despite the experience of the competitions, it is not a major factor to assure us of victory», the young manager said.
For the record, Morocco won Thursday, January 11, a warm-up match against Sierra Leon. The Morocco national team will have its first match on January 17 against Tanzania at the Laurent Pokou Stadium. The second match is scheduled against DR Congo on January 21, followed by its last group game against Zambia on January 24.
