It's not a miracle, we've made Africa proud - Regragui

This follows their historic 1-0 win, over Portugal in the quarterfinals in Qatar last night.

Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri’s towering header on the stroke of half-time the difference.

Regragui says they’ve made the continent proud.

"It's no miracle, I think that many of you are going to say it's a miracle especially in Europe. But we've played Croatia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal without letting in a goal. That's not a miracle, that's the result of hard work and African teams, Arab teams work hard,” he said.

“I'm not getting carried away because I know we could have conceded tonight but we've made our people happy and proud. We've made the continent happy and proud. I think we've made a lot of people around the world happy.

When you watch Rocky, you want to support Rocky Balboa because of his heart and commitment and I think we are the Rocky of this World Cup,"

Morocco finished the game with only 10 men after substitute and Bari striker Walid Cheddira was sent off for a second bookable offence deep in added time.

It has been a gallant effort from the Lions to get this far. Together with Croatia, they are the only two teams out of the four semi-finalists to be unbeaten so far, while conceding the least goals.

Morocco’s defence was breached once, an own goal in the 3-1 win over Canada during the group stages. Regragui, a former Moroccan international, has more on what has made the North Africans this resilient at the pinnacle of international football.

"With a clear game plan everyone has to work. Hakimi, Boufal I think they've never had to run as much in their lives as they did tonight. But they do that because they are doing for their country,” Regragui added.

“We had a game plan and it's true that they did put us under pressure. I'm not saying that we couldn't have conceded. We weren't as good as we were against Spain but when you put in so much heart, you give yourself good chances.

We have to play with our own strength and if you look at the substitutes that came on for Portugal and you look at the players they have, they're such a strong team. Without that desire and passion, you don't stand a chance,” the coach explained.

“But I think we are now becoming the team that everyone loves in this World Cup because we are showing the world that you can achieve. That even if you don't have as much talent, as much quality, as much money, if you work hard enough and you show that desire and passion and belief then you can succeed. I think that my players have shown that tonight,"

Morocco now faces their biggest challenge in Qatar in the form of reigning world champions France in the second semi-final on Wednesday evening. Their squad is resembling a hospital ward but Regragui says they will soldier on.

"We don't know now, we have Mazraoui he's sick, Aguerd is injured, now Saiss is injured. Hakimi began the competition not feeling well but he fights and every game he's here.

But back to what I said, every game you win something and you lose something but I have 26 players and if you want to win this competition you need to believe in everybody," he concluded.