At the start of his coaching career, Walid Regragui would drive himself crazy trying to get his teams to play like Pep Guardiola sides.
He dreamed of playing tiki-taka football and, in his first job with Moroccan club Fath Union Sport, wanted to dominate possession and pass opponents into submission.
Anyone who has watched his Morocco team here at this World Cup will know his approach has changed a little since then. Over the years, Regragui has become a more pragmatic coach, and that functional style has worked wonders for Morocco on their run to the semi-finals here in Qatar.
Morocco have reached the last four with an average of just 30 per cent possession across their five matches.
People used to think African teams were fun. But those days are over. We want to win now, be effective.
They have defended deep, allowed opponents to have the ball, absorbed pressure and then picked them off on the break. It has proved to be a winning formula.
Morocco have conceded just one goal (an own-goal), topped a group consisting Croatia, Belgium and Canada, and knocked out both Spain and Portugal.
After becoming the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals, Regragui insists the underdogs are not about to change their game-plan against France tonight.
“We are going to play to our strengths,” said the Morocco manager yesterday. “It is amazing how you, journalists, love these figures of 60, 70 per cent possession.
“Guardiola was my hero for a long time. He drove me crazy. It was my dream to play like that, tiki-taka, possession. When you have got [Kevin] De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, other players, other world-class players, that is possible.
“People used to think African teams were fun, because they played with a lot of pleasure, they dribbled at players, but they weren’t effective, they got knocked out. But those days are over. We want to win now. We want to be effective.”
Like studying Guardiola in the early days of his coaching career, watching France win the World Cup in 2018 had a major influence on Regragui.
He was impressed by how Didier Deschamps’s side blew teams away in Russia, scoring 11 goals in four knockout matches.
But such has been the shift in his philosophy, Regragui admitted yesterday that he was more impressed by their quarter-final win over England.
“In 2018, they made me dream,” he said. “They beat everybody in great style. But, against England, they didn’t create 40 opportunities, they were just effective, so that could be our model for this game.
“I don’t really care about expected goals, possession, I think we had 0.01 per cent chance of winning the World Cup at the outset. Now we are at 0.03 per cent, perhaps. But we are going to try and destroy those statistics.”
Allowing France the ball could be a dangerous tactic tonight, but Morocco showed in their knockout wins over Spain and Portugal that they can absorb huge amounts of pressure.
This is also a very different France team from the one which lifted the trophy in 2018. They like to hit teams on the counter, as they did for their opening goal against England. Morocco will look to deny Kylian Mbappe the space he craves by sitting deep.
Regragui is a flamboyant and eccentric character, joking during his press conference yesterday that FIFA should give teams an extra point if they have over 60 per cent possession, such is some people’s obsession with it. But his team is far more disciplined.
Even attacking wingers Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal are happy to track back and help their full-backs, which is a testament to the man-management skills of Regragui.
“He created an environment that is like a family and, in my humble opinion, he is the best coach in the tournament,” said Morocco and QPR winger Ilias Chair. “Whenever you have a problem, you can go to him and he will be your dad, your big brother in that moment.”
The worry for Morocco is they have major fitness concerns in defence.
West Ham centre-back Nayef Aguerd and captain Romain Saiss are major doubts because of injuries, while Bayern Munich full-back Noussair
Mazraoui has been struggling with illness. Regragui has vowed to give the important trio until “the last minute” to prove their fitness, but he will at least be thankful that right-back Achraf Hakimi is fit.
Hakimi, like Kyle Walker, will be charged with keeping Mbappe quiet. Hakimi and Mbappe are club-mates at Paris Saint-Germain and best friends.
“It will be a great duel,” said Regragui. “They are both champions, world-class players, and they will both be going hell for leather.”
Not satisfied with reaching the semi-finals, Regragui believes Morocco are “one of the four best teams in the world now” and insists his side can shock the world and go all the way.
They will be backed by around 45,000 Moroccan fans inside the Al Bayt Stadium tonight, compared to just around 4,000 French supporters.
Royal Air Maroc, the national airline, has put on an extra 30 flights to Doha, while the Moroccan Football Federation is said to have provided 13,000 free tickets.
France captain Hugo Lloris believes that backing will create a “hostile atmosphere” and insists the defending champions will not underestimate their opponents.
Other teams might have been guilty of that in Qatar, but France know they are two wins away from becoming the first country since Brazil in 1962 to retain the World Cup.
