Morocco not just satisfied with historic Last-Eight slot

Walid Regragui

Morocco coach Walid Regragui and his team have already made history by becoming the first Arab nation to enter the Last Eight at a World Cup, but he now wants more. "This team are playing like one family. We are not getting carried away. We have our feet on the ground. A lot of people are praying for us and we can feel it. We want to win tomorrow [Saturday] and rewrite the history books for our people. We now want to become the first Arab country to make the World Cup semis," said a confident Regragui, who took over the reins of the national team only four months ago from Vahid Halilhodzic.

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Morocco drew with Croatia before beating Belgium and Canada followed by another stunning win over Spain via the shootout. It is this tough route that keeps his team in good stead for the quarters, felt Regragui. "We have surprised a few people, upset some algorithms and some Harvard calculations. All expected Belgium and Spain to win, but [we] have proved that we are here too. Now my players are hungry for more," added Regragui, who is clearly a man with a plan.

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"Portugal are favourites and looking to win the World Cup, just like Spain were. We have our weaknesses and they [Portugal] may have lesser weaknesses, but it was the same case for Spain, Belgium and Croatia. We have analysed our opponent and we have a plan. If we get to half-time with the score 0-0, it will get tougher for them," added Regragui, hinting at another possible tie-breaker in the offing, just like in their Round-of-16 match, where their goalkeeper Yassine Bounou denied three Spaniards from the spot for a famous win.