On Wednesday, Morocco became the first African side to feature in the World Cup semi-finals, where the Atlas Lions suffered a hard-fought 2-0 defeat at the hands of defending champions France.<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, Oliseh believes their unprecedented success will empower other African nations to follow in their footsteps with the World Cup expanding to 48 teams in 2026.<\/p>\n
“The essence of having records is to push people to break them,” Oliseh told BBC Sport Africa.<\/p>\n
“So if your record has only been the quarter-final, the aim will be to get to the semi-final. The new ambition is now no longer just the semi-final, the ambition now is getting to the final.”<\/p>\n
An early goal from Theo Hernandez left Morocco with work to do, but Walid Regragui’s side pushed in search of an equaliser before their hopes were dashed by a second goal – against the run of play – from Randal Kolo Muani with 11 minutes left.<\/p>\n
“It was a great performance,” added Oliseh, who won 55 caps for Nigeria between 1993 and 2002.<\/p>\n
“Bowing out the way they did was great because they were not dominated. On the contrary, they had chances to score. They worked hard and for me it has been a great tournament and something exceptional for the African continent.”<\/p>\n
The former Super Eagles midfielder says Morocco’s run to the last four was built on their defensive and organised style – but one which was also full of energy and bursts of flair that suited their squad.<\/p>\n
A giant killer in Qatar, eliminating European powerhouses Spain in the last 16 and then Portugal in the quarter-finals, Morocco did not concede to an opposition player until the semi-final stage.<\/p>\n
They relied on superb goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and the heroics of captain Romain Saiss, among a host of impressive performers, to record four clean sheets – with the last two teams to have registered five both winning the title (Italy 2006, Spain 2010).<\/p>\n
“Morocco play to their strengths,” said Oliseh.<\/p>\n
“You have to be realistic. If they had [had] another calibre of players, then we would have complained for them to play the way they did.<\/p>\n
“But they looked at their team and said: ‘OK, we are like this and we’ll play like this’. It worked out.”<\/p>\n
‘Playing for their people’<\/p>\n
One of five African coaches leading the same tally of African representatives at the World Cup, Regragui’s profile has skyrocketed during the tournament for his tactical nous, man-management and motivational skills.<\/p>\n
A coach at Sv 19 Straelen in Germany with previous stints at Fortuna Sittard and Nigeria, Oliseh lavished praise on Morocco’s new star in the dugout.<\/p>\n
“He is an African coaching Africans and he brought the psychological part into the game whereby he made them realise they are playing for their people,” he said.<\/p>\n
“He played to the strength of his players. You saw that there was a good unity in the team. He did a lot.”<\/p>\n
Ahead of the third-placed play-off against Croatia on Saturday (15:00 GMT), former international Regragui has hinted he is likely to use squad players, particularly with first-choice defenders Saiss, Nayef Aguerd and Noussair Mazraoui carrying injuries.<\/p>\n
The two countries have already met at the tournament, playing out a 0-0 draw in their Group F opener.<\/p>\n
“It will be difficult on a mental level. I will give opportunities to those who did not play and we will try to clinch third place,” Regragui, born in France to Moroccan parents, said.<\/p>\n
“The important thing is that we presented a good look to our team and that football in Morocco is not far from the top level.”<\/p>\n
Prior to Morocco’s historic campaign, only Cameroon (in 1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) had ever contested World Cup quarter-finals for Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Morocco’s trailblazing run to the semi-finals will inspire the continent’s teams to dare to dream of reaching the World Cup final in the future, says former Nigeria great Sunday Oliseh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":24283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[7,14,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-24286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-sports","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n