Morocco coach Walid Regragui puts emphasis on hunger not hype

The Atlas Lions face Nigeria in Tuesday’s semi-final at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, where they are set to benefit once again from the raucous home support that has driven their campaign so far.

Regragui spoke about the attribute in his squad that could hand them an edge. 

"Yes, every time, you need to respect everybody. I talked about humility in the beginning of the competition, we are not the best team but we have other teams, we have the same power, same good players and finally it's the mentality,” Regragui said.

“We need to stay with this mentality, humble and Inshallah, if we have the same spirit I think we are close to winning this trophy." 

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The hosts gave arguably their best performance at the Afcon in the 2-0 win over Cameroon in Rabat to secure a place in the last four.

"The pressing, the intensity of course in the second half you can do it because Cameroon played better and they made more pressure but we accepted these things in the second half,” the coach added.

“We were waiting for one opportunity to kill the game, that's what we did in the corner and one free kick but finally I think the best team won today. I want to congratulate my players, the fans, today they were unbelievable, incredible and now we make history. 

“In 20 years Morocco has not played the AFCON semifinal, it's what you want when you are a coach, when you are a player to make history and what we did today." 

Regragui also appreciates the unwavering support from the fans.

"The fans are amazing, one of the best in the world. They push the team, I want to say congratulations to my country, every time the fans are unbelievable."