This Tuesday, Morocco achieved the feat of eliminating Spain during the penalty shootout, in the round of 16 of the World Cup. The Atlas Lions logically ran after the ball a lot against a Spanish team who monopolized it for 120 minutes. But after the match, some media pointed to Morocco’s overly defensive and unspectacular style of play. Critics that coach Walid Regragui did not understand at all as he explained at a press conference.
“The euphoria has passed. There, we want to win against Portugal. What we have done is good, but going further is better. We’re not on our cloud yet, we haven’t done anything. We just thwarted a few predictions, XGs and all the Harvard stat stuff, favorites there. But we ran a lot against Spain. I was criticized because I left the ball to Spain. No one can take possession from this team even France and Germany have left the ball. I did not understand the criticisms of the European press on Morocco’s way of playing. They would have preferred us to take the ball and cry at the end maybe. Tomorrow we will play the same way, but we will not leave the ball completely. We have our plan to put them in difficulty.
