Morocco head coach Walid Regragui believes African representatives have proved doubters wrong with their performances at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
All but one of the African representatives have won at least a game in Qatar, with only Cameroon yet to pick up three points after two round of games.
Senegal defeated Ecuador and Qatar to finish second in Group A and Tunisia stunned reigning world champions France 1-0 on Wednesday, but it was not enough for them to advance into the next round.
Ghana defeated South Korea 3-2 in their second game while Cameroon held Serbia to a 3-3 draw after narrowly losing 1-0 to Switzerland.
Morocco, on their part, defeated European giants Belgium 2-0 on Sunday to boost their chances of qualifying for the knockout round and a win against Canada on Thursday would secure their ticket in the round of 16.
Ahead of Thursday’s match at the Al Thumama Stadium, Regragui said: “Obviously, Morocco is my priority. But we’re also African, as Senegal are, as Ghana are, as Cameroon and Tunisia are, so we hope to fly the flag of African football high. Often, we’ve been described as being ‘sub-par’, that somehow African football wasn’t as good as elsewhere.
“But at this World Cup, I think we are showing we can give any other team a run for their money, whether we are talking about European or South American teams.”
Regragui is also upbeat about the chances of an African country winning the World Cup.
“I hope in the future, that we will be seeing this from more African teams and why not an African nation winning the World Cup?,” the former Wydad Casablanca coach added.
