Morocco determined to win World Cup 'booby-prize' 

BOOBY-PRIZE: Morocco manager Walid Regragui applauds the fans at the end of the FIFA World Cup Semi-Final match at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar. Pic: PA

Morocco head coach Walid Regragui admits the World Cup third-place play-off is the "worst game" to play in but still wants his side to become the first African nation to medal in a finals.

Having beaten Belgium, Spain, and Portugal to reach the semis, Morocco lost 2-0 to reigning champions France as their record-breaking run came to an end in Qatar.

They will now face Croatia at Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) to battle for the bronze medal, having already become the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.

While Regragui said the match was "the worst game to play" and likened it to winning the "booby prize", he is keen to be successful.

"We would like things to have gone differently and played in the final but there is another game to play, we would like to be on the podium," he said.

"We know that Croatia also want to finish in third place, we played them in our opening game so that will be nice.

"It will be no walk in the park physically, they have had one more rest day.

"We need to clear our heads a little but, when you come out of a semi-final, 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.

"Finishing third is not the same as finishing fourth and we want to take a medal home with us."

"We even want to win friendlies so the objective is to get that third place, we want to up our Fifa ranking. If we finish third in a World Cup, we will really hike it up.

"We want to show what we are made of and also pave the way for the future of Moroccan football."

Regragui confirmed skipper Romain Saiss will not be fit for today's game, having risked his captain at just "60-70%" in the semi-final, a decision which backfired when he limped off after just 20 minutes.

"We lost our captain Romain Saiss during the game, we took a risk but it was a risk worth taking," added Regragui.

"We wanted to go out to battle with him leading the battalion. We have another couple of injured players but we will see how it goes.

"We really, really pushed our players to their limits but they still want to go out tomorrow and play again but we are going to be taking risk again. Romain Saiss is out - he has been ruled out from this third-place game."

For his part, Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic is hopeful the World Cup third-place play-off will not be the last game at a major tournament for his captain Luka Modric.

Modric, 37, will not feature at the next World Cup and may not yet start against Morocco today.

But Dalic believes the Real Madrid midfielder may continue playing until Euro 2024 in Germany, even though it will purely be the decision of Modric himself.

"I hope that he will be with us," he replied when asked about Modric's chances of continuing his international career.

"I'm looking forward to that and I think it is quite certain that he will be but Luka Modric will decide personally as well how he feels.

"Knowing how he feels about football and the Croatia national team, I'm quite sure he will, but it is his decision only."