Morocco playing seven games at one World Cup is priceless, says coach Regragui

Morocco may not have reached the World Cup final but the players and supporters can take pride in the fact that they will leave Qatar having played seven games, a first for any African nation, coach Walid Regragui said on Friday.

Morocco's dream run at the World Cup ended when they were beaten by reigning champions France in the semi-finals, but they still have the opportunity to leave Qatar on a high when they take on Croatia in the third-place playoff on Saturday.

Regragui said he would not make too many changes to the squad as that would upset the team balance, but admitted it was a difficult and complicated game for two teams being asked to play after the disappointment of losing their semi-final matches.

"I understand it's important to finish third rather than fourth, but my takeaway is we didn't reach the final. We wanted to play the final on Sunday, not play tomorrow," Regragui said.