Morocco head coach Walid Regragui has applauded Hakim Ziyech’s incredible display after his Man of the Match performance in their 2-0 win over Belgium at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The Red Devils were favourites to win the game following their opening 1-0 Group F win over Canada, but goals from Romain Saiss and Zakaria Aboukhlal earned Morocco their first win at this Mundial.
Ziyech was in top form in the Al Thumama Stadium, the Chelsea winger scored from a free-kick in added time of the first half but it was ruled out by VAR for offside. He then laid a lovely pass for Aboukhlal to score Morocco’s second goal.
After the win, Regragui claimed that Ziyech’s return has brought back confidence to the Atlas Lions and the fans.
“You know this guy, he is incredible,” Regragui said during the post-match press conference.
“The spirit, when he came back into the national team, it came back. What a lot of people say about him is that he’s a crazy guy, a difficult guy to manage, he can’t help the team. But for me what I see is that when you give him love and confidence, he can die for you. And that is what I give him
“And he returned to me my confidence and the confidence of the fans of Morocco, because a lot of fans of Morocco wanted Hakim to come back into the team and he knew that.
“But he’s a key player, the same with Sofiane [Boufal], and when you have these players on the field – the same with Achraf [Hakimi] and [Noussair] Mazraoui – it’s a different team, full of big players, playing in big teams in Europe. And you see he [Ziyech] is a different player with the national team. He’s our leader. The role of the coach is to give him confidence, the same with the staff.”
Morocco will tackle already-eliminated Canada in the final group match and victory at Al Thumama Stadium could potentially secure the top spot in Group F.
