{"id":1266134,"date":"2022-12-16T15:20:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T15:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/16\/world-cup-2022-morocco-run-will-raise-african-world-cup-ambitions-sunday-oliseh\/"},"modified":"2022-12-16T15:20:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T15:20:17","slug":"world-cup-2022-morocco-run-will-raise-african-world-cup-ambitions-sunday-oliseh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/16\/world-cup-2022-morocco-run-will-raise-african-world-cup-ambitions-sunday-oliseh\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2022: Morocco run will raise African World Cup ambitions – Sunday Oliseh"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/span>
Midfielder Sofyan Amrabat was one of Morocco\u2019s stand-out performers in Qatar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/thead>\n\n\n
Host nation:<\/strong> Qatar <\/span>Dates: <\/strong>20 November-18 December <\/span>Coverage: <\/strong>Live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app. <\/span>Day-by-day TV listings<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>Full coverage details<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Morocco\u2019s trailblazing run to the semi-finals will inspire the continent\u2019s teams to dare to dream of reaching the World Cup final in the future, says former Nigeria great Sunday Oliseh. <\/span><\/p>\n

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On Wednesday, Morocco became the first African side to feature in the World Cup semi-finals, where the Atlas Lions suffered <\/span>a hard-fought 2-0 defeat<\/span> at the hands of defending champions France.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Despite the loss, Oliseh believes their unprecedented success will empower other African nations to follow in their footsteps with the World Cup expanding to 48 teams in 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe essence of having records is to push people to break them,\u201d Oliseh told BBC Sport Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo if your record has only been the quarter-final, the aim will be to get to the semi-final. The new ambition is now no longer just the semi-final, the ambition now is getting to the final.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

An early goal from Theo Hernandez left Morocco with work to do, but Walid Regragui\u2019s side pushed in search of an equaliser before their hopes were dashed by a second goal \u2013 against the run of play \u2013 from Randal Kolo Muani with 11 minutes left.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great performance,\u201d added Oliseh, who won 55 caps for Nigeria between 1993 and 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBowing out the way they did was great because they were not dominated. On the contrary, they had chances to score. They worked hard and for me it has been a great tournament and something exceptional for the African continent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The former Super Eagles midfielder says Morocco\u2019s run to the last four was built on their defensive and organised style \u2013 but one which was also full of energy and bursts of flair that suited their squad.<\/span><\/p>\n

A giant killer in Qatar, eliminating European powerhouses <\/span>Spain in the last 16<\/span> and then <\/span>Portugal in the quarter-finals,<\/span> Morocco did not concede to an opposition player until the semi-final stage. <\/span><\/p>\n

They relied on superb goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and the heroics of captain Romain Saiss, among a host of impressive performers, to record four clean sheets \u2013 with the last two teams to have registered five both winning the title (Italy 2006, Spain 2010). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMorocco play to their strengths,\u201d said Oliseh.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be realistic. If they had [had] another calibre of players, then we would have complained for them to play the way they did.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut they looked at their team and said: \u2018OK, we are like this and we\u2019ll play like this\u2019. It worked out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Playing for their people\u2019<\/h3>\n
\"Sunday<\/span><\/span>
Sunday Oliseh is part of Fifa\u2019s technical study group for the World Cup in Qatar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of five African coaches leading the same tally of African representatives at the World Cup, <\/span>Regragui\u2019s profile has skyrocketed<\/span> during the tournament for his tactical nous, man-management and motivational skills. <\/span><\/p>\n

A coach at Sv 19 Straelen in Germany with previous stints at Fortuna Sittard and Nigeria, Oliseh lavished praise on Morocco\u2019s new star in the dugout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an African coaching Africans and he brought the psychological part into the game whereby he made them realise they are playing for their people,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe played to the strength of his players. You saw that there was a good unity in the team. He did a lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ahead of the third-placed play-off against Croatia on Saturday (15:00 GMT), former international Regragui has hinted he is likely to use squad players, particularly with first-choice defenders Saiss, Nayef Aguerd and Noussair Mazraoui carrying injuries.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two countries have already met at the tournament, playing out a 0-0 draw in their Group F opener.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be difficult on a mental level. I will give opportunities to those who did not play and we will try to clinch third place,\u201d Regragui, born in France to Moroccan parents, said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe important thing is that we presented a good look to our team and that football in Morocco is not far from the top level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to Morocco\u2019s historic campaign, only Cameroon (in 1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) had ever contested World Cup quarter-finals for Africa. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"BBC<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Get the latest results and goal notifications for any team at the Fifa World Cup by downloading the BBC Sport app: <\/span>Apple<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span> \u2013 <\/strong>Android<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span> \u2013 <\/strong>Amazon<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span><\/p>\n

\"BBC<\/span><\/span>\"BBC<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Get your daily dose of Fifa World Cup reaction, debate & analysis with <\/span>World Cup Daily<\/span> on BBC Sounds<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Around<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Midfielder Sofyan Amrabat was one of Morocco\u2019s stand-out performers in Qatar Host nation: Qatar Dates: 20 November-18 December Coverage: Live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app. Day-by-day TV listings \u2013 Full coverage details Morocco\u2019s trailblazing run to the semi-finals will inspire the continent\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1266135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1266134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1266134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1266134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1266134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1266134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}