Skip to content
Pursuits

Morocco Looks to Advance in World Cup, Canada Hopes for Win

Morocco's Yahya Jabrane, top, celebrates with Abdelhamid Sabiri (11) after Sabiri scored a goal during the World Cup group F soccer match between Belgium and Morocco, at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Morocco's Yahya Jabrane, top, celebrates with Abdelhamid Sabiri (11) after Sabiri scored a goal during the World Cup group F soccer match between Belgium and Morocco, at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (RONALD BLUM)
Updated on

Doha, Qatar (AP) -- His nation on the verge of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time since 1986, Morocco coach Walid Regragui downplayed his role.

“There are other coaches that like to make you think that they’re magicians, they’re the ones, they’re puppeteers,” Regragui said through a translator on Wednesday. “The players are the ones that make the coach and not the other way around.”