Regragui: 'We Would Naively Lose Such Matches in the Past'

Walid Regragui, head coach of the Moroccan national team, affirmed that qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals came after a difficult match against Tanzania, noting that such encounters were previously decided naively in favor of the opponent.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Regragui said: "I congratulate the players on qualifying for the quarter-finals. We knew the match wouldn't be easy, considering yesterday's encounters, even though we initially thought it would be much easier for us today."

He continued: "If there's an analysis of the match, simply put, we effectively started our game in the second half. We had a first half that wasn't up to our standard: too many technical errors, many wrong choices, little running, and we gave confidence to the opponent with the two or three chances they had."

He added: "Fortunately, during the half-time break, we managed to correct some things, and the second half was more aligned with our standards: we increased our pace, created many chances and attacking situations. We should have scored earlier, but the goal came at the right time, so we will cherish the memory of qualifying."

He concluded: "As I've always said, in competitions like this, the most important thing is to advance to the next round. We would have naively lost this type of match in the past. Today, we qualified despite the difficulties, and that is what matters most."