“He deserves all the praise” – Giroud reveals message he sent to ex-teammate Walid Regragui after FIFA World Cup success with Morocco

French striker Olivier Giroud used to be teammates with the man who led Morocco to the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Walid Regragui. They played together in Grenoble back in 2008.

The Atlas Lions were eliminated in the semi-finals of the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Les Bleus. The defeat marked an end to their historic run, which saw them become the first African side to reach the last four of the tournament.

Giroud noted that Regragui deserves nothing but praise for his achievements with the Moroccan national team in Qatar. He said (as reported by Le Parisien):

"I congratulated him and said he could be proud of his team. I told him that I would be happy to discuss all this later, that it would be nice to see him again. He is a good person, he deserves all the praise that has been given to him.”

Despite their defeat against France, Regragui's side will play another game in the FIFA World Cup. They take on Croatia in the third-place match on December 17. Speaking ahead of the game, Regragui said (via Daiji World):

"I don't really need to motivate my team, we are at the World Cup representing Morocco. We even want to win friendlies so the objective is to get that third place, we want to improve our FIFA ranking. If we finish third in a World Cup, we will really hike it up,"

He further added that finishing third will still be a great achievement for his team as they will take home a medal. Regragui said:

"Finishing third is not the same as finishing fourth and we want to take a medal home with us. After the game, we will think about what the future has in store. We will have a completely different status following the World Cup. We want to show what we are made of and also pave the way for the future of Moroccan football."

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Morocco coach Walid Regragui spoke about his team's mindset after loss to France in the FIFA World Cup

Morocco Press Conference - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Walid Reagragui

Regragui noted that his Morocco team needed to clear their heads a bit after such an emotional FIFA World Cup clash against France. He said:

"We need to clear our heads a little, but when you come out of a semifinal, the first time we've ever been in one, emotions were running high and it was quite difficult. However, my players still have that appetite they want to finish well and they know they still have one game to play with all to play for."

Morocco played splendidly at the FIFA World Cup before their exit. They beat Belgium, Canada, Spain, and Portugal and drew against Croatia en route to the semi-finals.