Walid Regragui waves to fans at the end of the World Cup semifinal match between France and Morocco at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, on Wednesday. AP

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Moroccan coach Walid Regragui said that they were left to do catching-up after France scored first  within the five minutes of the kick-off of the match.

Theo Hernandez put France ahead within five minutes of the kick-off. Kylian Mbappe got a pass and fired the ball into the goal but the Moroccan goalkeeper deflected the showed. Hernandez found the rebound and tapped the ball into goal post to break the deadlock and give France a 1-0 lead.

Morocco could never recover from there on and remained stragglers till the final whistle. They could not equalize.

Randal Kolo Muani, who substituted Osman Dembele, added one more in the 78th minute to make it 2-0 as France defeated Morocco in the semifinal of the FIFA World Cup to set a mouth-watering final showdown with South American champions Argentina.

“We conceded a goal very quickly, which gave more confidence to the French team to continue with their strategy. Actually, if I had any regrets about this game, they'd be more about the beginning of the game. We conceded the first goal very early,” said Regragui.

What Belgium, Spain and Portugal could not do in their 90 minutes of the play, Spain did it in five minutes. They penetrated the water-tight defence of Morocco. Before this game, Morocco has conceded just one goal in five matches and their steely defence had become the talk of the town.

“We're used to not having lots of possession but still winning. Tonight, we had more possession but we failed to win. We made too many technical errors at this level.

“Regardless, we were giving them issues in the first half. In the second half, we were more clever. We lost the ball less, we created so many dangerous situations. But we lacked decisiveness in the last 30 metres, unfortunately,” he added.

Morocco had come agonisingly close to scoring many a times but failed to convert their chances into goals.

“We wanted to score early to create some doubt; however, with a team like that and with the talent they have offensively, we knew we could be punished at any moment.”

He also revealed after the second goal, they had lost the hope of coming back into the match.

“That's what happened for the second goal, that kind of extinguished our hope. We stayed in there, tried our best to score a goal that would've given us some hope,” he added.

“As I said before the game, they're a big team. They're able to win without having to show too much. What made me happy is the impact we had, despite the injuries and the fatigue, and as promised, the players did their best. I believe we made the French doubt themselves for a moment.”

He also vowed to work hard and come back stronger in the  next tournament.

“We learnt learn, we can't win a World Cup via a miracle. We have to work harder. We have to come back even stronger, God willing,” he stressed.

“This is extraordinary for us. In a top-level tournament like the World Cup, to go and win it, I think is a little out of reach for us. Not in terms of quality or tactics, but rather athletically and physically.

“We had so many injuries. Several players have played at 60% to 80% of their capacity since the start of the tournament. Despite all this, we made it to the semi-finals. So, I'd like to congratulate the French team. Credit to them. We will be behind them now,” he added.   

He was also full of praise for his players for their performance in the World Cup. Morocco became the first African team to reach semi-final of the World Cup.

“And credit to my players, above all, for the effort they've put in, the image of our national team    that they've shown to the world. I believe that's equal to a World Cup title.    Now, it'll be hard for the boys, since they really wanted to make history.”     

Morocco will meet Croatia for the best third finisher in the World Cup on Saturday.

“This third-place game will be hard for us, especially mentally. We have a lot of injuries and we're exhausted after our last match. I'm in two minds."

“I want to win the game, we will do everything to win it, to players who haven't experienced the World Cup yet, so we'll try to find a middle ground in order to field a very strong team try to clinch this third place.

“For now, we need to recover. We've just lost, and it's always hard after a defeat   to think about the next game. And then we will see if we can make Morocco proud by clinching third place on Saturday,” he hoped.