African teams need to dream of winning World Cup – Morocco coach Walid Regragui

Morocco coach Walid Regragui is given the bumps by his players after the win over Canada which sealed their place in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Morocco coach Walid Regragui said he believes African nations should dream of winning the World Cup after his side advanced to the last 16 of the tournament as group winners on Thursday.

The Atlas Lions beat Canada 2-1 on Thursday to finish top of Group F and will play Spain in the last 16 after La Roja dropped to second in Group E with defeat to Japan later in the day.

Morocco are unbeaten so far at Qatar 2022, having defeated Belgium 2-0 and drawn 0-0 with Croatia before the win over Canada.

"We set ourselves an objective," Regragui said. "We wanted to give everything to get out of the group stages. We're aiming for the sky, we're not going to stop here.

"But we're going to be a difficult team to beat, so why not dream about winning the trophy?

"We need African teams to set this objective. We're taking it one game at a time, we're not getting carried away, but if we're fighting fit, we stand a great chance of progressing."

Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.