Walid Regragui, coach of the Moroccan national team, considered the friendly 1-0 win against Bahrain yesterday Thursday at the Moulay Abdellah Complex in Rabat a valuable lesson for the national players ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations matches.

Regragui said during the post-match press conference: “Today’s match was one-sided. The lesson we learned is that if we don’t score early, we suffer a lot. We created 20 attacks but managed to convert a free kick into a goal and continued our winning streak to match the achievements of Germany and Spain, which we are proud of.”

He added: “We did not take this match lightly after this win. We knew it would be tough since the Bahrain team has never lost by more than one goal. We benefited a lot because most of the opponents we will face will play the same defensive style as Bahrain, and we have to find solutions.”

Regragui pointed to the strength of the substitutes and the team’s ability to compensate despite the absence of some important players like Aziz El Ouahabi, Noussair Mazraoui, and Naif Aguerd, who is ill, confirming that the available options provide attacking solutions.

The national coach spoke about the tactical changes he made during the match to boost the attack, saying: “We made many changes in the match by relying on two strikers in the second half, Youssef En-Nesyri and Hamza Igman, to try to score, but our problem is impatience and making some wrong decisions. We will continue working to find solutions before the next Africa Cup of Nations.”

He confirmed that the team has young players learning from tough matches, stating: “We have a complete team and also young players, some of whom are injured. The youth learn from such tough matches. I am happy we faced such difficulties, and the players made history after the 15th consecutive win, a record equal to the achievements of Spain and Germany.”

The national coach emphasized the importance of benefiting from preparatory matches before the Africa Cup of Nations, recalling that “in the Africa Cup, there will be such matches, and we benefit well from them. I and my team focus on winning the Africa Cup and will continue working towards this goal.”

Regragui also praised the team’s defensive organization, saying: “We won several matches from set pieces, which we work on a lot. We have to adapt more to opponents who play defensively. The Bahrain players were very disciplined, and I did not expect them to be this strong, which we benefited from.”