Morocco coach Walid Regragui says there were good lessons to take from their loss against South Africa in their TotalEnergies CAF AFCON 2023 qualifier played at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday.
The World Cup semi-finalists were edged 2-1 thanks to goals by the in-form, Percy Tau and Zakhele Lepasa, with the consolation goal for the Moroccans being found by Hakim Ziyech.
Briefing the media after the highly entertaining affair, the former Wydad Casablanca head coach said he was not entirely disheartened by the loss, saying that it was good for his side’s preparations for Cote d’Ivoire next year.
“As I said before, I don’t care if I lose two or three games before AFCON but there were important lessons that we learnt today. In the second half, we gave more intensity but, in the end, Bafana Bafana deserve the victory. I changed a lot to see other players and that is what I wanted to see in this game,” said the Atlas Lions coach.
“Some of what I saw, I am happy and the others, not so happy, so this game was good to take some lessons ahead of AFCON because there is still a lot of work to be done”, said Regragui.
The coach further went on to comment on the quality of his opponents, saying that the team has great potential to do well on the continent and possibly pull a surprise.
“I know Bafana Bafana is a big team. They have very good technical players and I think South Africa can be a big surprise with this kind of spirit. I also know how South Africans love football and how much they have good players like players from Mamelodi Sundowns who play in a good league. They did well today and deserve the victory” concluded the coach.
Both Morocco and South Africa have secured their places in next year’s continental showpiece, with Morocco left with one more match to play against Liberia, who have already slipped out of the race for qualification to Cote d’Ivoire.