AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 129.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-0.36%)
BOP 6.75 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.05%)
CNERGY 4.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-3.02%)
DCL 8.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-4.36%)
DFML 40.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.87 (-2.09%)
DGKC 80.96 Decreased By ▼ -2.81 (-3.35%)
FCCL 32.77 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFBL 74.43 Decreased By ▼ -1.04 (-1.38%)
FFL 11.74 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (2.35%)
HUBC 109.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.97 (-0.88%)
HUMNL 13.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.81 (-5.56%)
KEL 5.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.48%)
KOSM 7.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.68 (-8.1%)
MLCF 38.60 Decreased By ▼ -1.19 (-2.99%)
NBP 63.51 Increased By ▲ 3.22 (5.34%)
OGDC 194.69 Decreased By ▼ -4.97 (-2.49%)
PAEL 25.71 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.53%)
PIBTL 7.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-3.52%)
PPL 155.45 Decreased By ▼ -2.47 (-1.56%)
PRL 25.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.52%)
PTC 17.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.96 (-5.2%)
SEARL 78.65 Decreased By ▼ -3.79 (-4.6%)
TELE 7.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-5.42%)
TOMCL 33.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.78 (-2.26%)
TPLP 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-7.28%)
TREET 16.27 Decreased By ▼ -1.20 (-6.87%)
TRG 58.22 Decreased By ▼ -3.10 (-5.06%)
UNITY 27.49 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.22%)
WTL 1.39 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.72%)
BR100 10,445 Increased By 38.5 (0.37%)
BR30 31,189 Decreased By -523.9 (-1.65%)
KSE100 97,798 Increased By 469.8 (0.48%)
KSE30 30,481 Increased By 288.3 (0.95%)

DOHA: Morocco coach Walid Regragui wants “no regrets” after facing Canada on Thursday, with his team aiming for qualification to the World Cup knockout stage for the first time since 1986.

The north African side reached the last 16 in Mexico 36 years ago for the only time in their history, and a point against already-eliminated Canada would see them repeat the feat.

Morocco are second in Group F, level on four points with leaders Croatia, who face Belgium, on three points, while Canada are bottom with no points.

“We don’t want to have an eye on the Croatia and Belgium match to decide our own fate, we (need to) give everything we’ve got so we have no regrets at the end,” Regragui told a press conference Wednesday.

“We’ll give everything we’ve got. Our players want to make history and will give 110 percent to ensure the Moroccan population is happy.”

Morocco players have been allowed to bring their families to the tournament and after the 2-0 win over Belgium on Sunday, Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi was pictured in an emotional embrace with his mother in the stands.

“Before we got here we had a strategy meeting, to bring families with us or not,” said Regragui.

“Based on our experience in 2018, along with our technical team, we chose the option to bring the families.

“Some players have kids, some would rather have their parents with them. We did a good job in that regard. When you win, there’s no negatives, everyone is happy, but if you lose they will say – ‘Why did you bring the families?’

“We meet them after the game and then we concentrate on the next one.

“The spirit of family off the pitch, we want to bring that onto the pitch, and until now it’s functioning very well.”

Making progress

African champions Senegal qualified from Group A after beating Ecuador on Tuesday and Morocco have a good chance to join them in the next round.

“Senegal showed us a great path, we want to go through and move forward,” said Regragui.

“Morocco is my priority, Morocco and Moroccans. (But) we hope to fly the flag of African football high.

“Often African football has been described as sub-par, not as good as elsewhere, but we’ve shown we can give anyone a run for their money.”

Opponents Canada are playing in only their second World Cup and despite two defeats and elimination with a game to spare, coach John Herdman said his team have made progress.

They were unfortunate to lose 1-0 against Belgium, and scored their first ever goal at the tournament in the 4-1 defeat by Canada on Sunday, with Alphonso Davies sending them ahead early on.

“It’s an opportunity to keep stepping forward,” Herdman told a press conference.

“We’ll stay committed to our identity and go into this match with an opportunity to make some more history.

“We’ve been enjoying the ride and we know there’s not long left, the players are excited for their families, to try and step into the stadium and try to have one of those moments.

“We watched the celebrations back, we watched Alphonso’s goal together, to be proud of moments like that because there’s more to come.”

Canada will participate in the 2026 tournament as co-hosts with the United States and Mexico.

“We’re a football country, we’re there. You can’t deny that, and we will push tomorrow to keep proving that,” he added.

Comments

Comments are closed.