Morocco’s dreams of winning the World Cup came to an end last night when they lost 2-0 to defending champions France in the semifinals. 

Theo Hernandez gave the World Champions the lead five minutes into the game, and Randal Kolo Muani doubled the scoreline in the second half.

Morocco’s coach, Walid Regragui, has since praised his team’s effort as their fairy-tale run in Qatar came to an end.

“We gave our all; that’s the most important thing.” “The boys fought until the last minute; we wanted to win the game, but we came up against a strong team that knows what it is doing and waits for you to make a mistake, which we did at the beginning of the game,” he said.

The Atlas Lions had to deal with a number of injuries as most of their players worked their way back to full fitness, but Regragui insisted that everyone gave it their all.

“We lost a lot of players who did their best; I have nothing to say when the players give their maximum,” he said. “We could have scored, but unfortunately a goal didn’t come.” May the Moroccans forgive us. “We wanted to go to the final, but maybe next time, God willing.” 

He went on to say that his team had now proven to the world that Moroccan football exists and that they have beautiful supporters.

“The most important thing is to have given Moroccan football a good image, to have shown the world that Moroccan football exists and we have beautiful supporters.”

“To reach the very, very highest level—to win a world cup—we still have work to do, but we are not very far away,” he explained.

Despite the defeat to France, the Atlas Lions fought hard and became the first African team to reach the semi-finals.

The Atlas Lions will now face Croatia in a third and fourth-place play-off on Saturday to conclude their World Cup journey in Qatar.