Regragui Reacts To Bafana Defeat

Morocco head coach Walid Regragui has opened up on their 2-1 defeat to Bafana Bafana that saw them drop to second place in Group K.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists can still finish top when they face off in their final game against Liberia but succumbed to a surprise defeat to a side 45 places lower than them in the FIFA rankings at FNB Stadium on Saturday evening.

An own-goal from Munir, and Zakhele Lepasa’s strike sealed the win despite a stunning strike from Hakim Ziyech which fizzed past Ronwen Williams in the bottom corner.

“Congratulations to South Africa, I think they deserve the victory at home, played very well with the intensity, and good spirit, and us, I think in the first half played with less intensity, you think the game is easy,” he said after the game at FNB Stadium.

“You see the first mistake of my goalkeeper, he help the opponent get confidence, we gave a lot of opportunities away for the team, it’s not normal at this level.

“But what I said, in the press conference [yesterday] maybe… when I said I don’t care about losing two or three games before the AFCON, I think my players listened to that today.

“They have their minds on holiday and I tend to understand that, but I think in the second half there was more intensity, more opportunity, but finally, Bafana Bafana deserves the victory, congratulations.”

The former Wydad Atheltic head coach who won the CAF Champions League two seasons ago before taking the role at the helm of the Atlas Lions felt they have some positives to take forward into the future.

“I learned a lot in his game, we changed a lot of players in this game, I tried to see other players, we have players in the [squad] pool to come back,” he added.

“We lost some players, that is what I wanted in these two games [against South Africa] and Cape Verde, to see other players and what I see, we have something, I am happy about some things, and unhappy about other things.

“What is important now is to recover and in September, you begin the rush to be ready for the AFCON in Ivory Coast.”