Morocco head coach Walid Regragui has slammed his critics ahead of the mouth-watering 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Nigeria on Wednesday evening.
The former Wydad boss has come under enormous pressure from the public and has even been jeered during games at the tournament when his name was announced by the stadium announcer.
That negativity around the displeasure of the coach has undoubtedly rubbed off onto the squad, with some anxiety creeping in, but the win over Cameroon notably showing a more unified national team and fan base with qualification to the last four.
Regragui suggested his contribution to the country is perhaps under-appreciated and that whoever succeeds him, should do better, which could be seen as a major jibe to his detractors.
“That’s a good question, I was waiting for this question for a while from Moroccan journalists, but it’s good it’s from you, in my country it’s like this, you must accept it when you are a coach of the national team of Morocco,” Regragui said.
“Every result you have critics, it’s true… I do my best for my country every time, maybe I make mistakes sometimes, because every coach makes mistakes in their life, and it’s like this. But I stay focused on my team, that’s what’s important, I fight for my country.
“What is important is what happens on the pitch, when you win the game, it helps me a lot… when you have only four defeats in three and a half years and you get Morocco into the semi-final of the World Cup and AFCON, normally nobody can speak but in Morocco it’s different.
“When you win people speak, you have to accept this – we hope that the next coach of Morocco, Inshallah, he does more than what I have done.”
Morocco host the Super Eagles tomorrow at the Prince Moullay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat 21h00 (GMT+1).
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