Walid Regragui Said Morocco Will Not Be Fast Only To Reach The Semifinals

Morocco national team coach Walid Regragui (Twitter @EnMARoc)

JAKARTA - Morocco will not be satisfied to only reach the semifinals of the World Cup and is ready to take more positions, coach Walid Regragui said ahead of their match with world champions France on Thursday morning.

"If we are happy to only reach the semifinals and some people see that it is enough, I don't agree," Regragui said at a press conference quoted by Antara via AFP.

"If you reach the semifinals and you don't have the desire to go any higher, then there's a problem."

"The best team in the tournament, Brazil has been knocked out. We are an ambitious team and we are hungry, but I don't know if that will be enough," he added.

Morocco was the first African and Arab teams to reach the semifinals at the World Cup, but Regragui had a view to make more history.

"We want Africa to be at the top of the world, but we have to be strong to move forward. We're not our favorites but we're sure - maybe I can be called crazy? A little crazy can be good," he added.

"Everyone might think we're tired, they said before the last game too, you shouldn't be tired in the World Cup semifinals. Yes, we're still hungry," he added.

"We probably have the most difficult route to the semifinals. Every round of people think we're going to be knocked out, but we're still here and we'll fight until the end," he said.

Morocco had some injury problems ahead of the match against France, but Regragui is optimistic his players can be fielded.

"We suffered a number of injuries, but we have excellent medical staff working hard and coming with good news every day," Regragui said.

"We had to wait until the last minute, we tended to do that, no one came out but also no one came in," he said.