Morocco head coach, Walid Regragui
Morocco coach Walid Regragui has angrily rejected suggestions his team is benefitting from favourable refereeing decisions as the 2025 CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) host.
The Atlas Lions will face fellow favourites, Nigeria, in a titanic semifinal on Wednesday.
“We’re the team to beat. As the team to beat, people will try to find all sorts of reasons to say Morocco has an advantage,” Regragui said after his team’s 2-0 win over Cameroon in the quarterfinals.
“The only advantage that Morocco has at this Africa Cup is playing in front of 65,000 spectators. The rest is on the field, we speak on the field.”
On the field, however, Cameroon might have had two penalties if experienced referee Dahane Beida hadn’t decided in favour of the home team.
Morocco defender Adam Masina was involved in both, appearing to catch Bryan Mbuemo’s right boot after missing the ball when Cameroon was trying to level the match, then, in the final minutes, appearing to strike Etta Eyong’s head with his elbow in the penalty area.
Beida, who refereed the final at the last edition, also decided not to show Bilal El Khannouss a second yellow card for stopping Danny Namaso on a counterattack shortly before Ismael Saibari wrapped up the win.
“Many people want to believe or make others believe that we have advantages from the referees. Personally, I saw penalties that could have been awarded to us. As for the referees, I never talk about the referee,” Regragui said.
The Morocco coach then spoke about a penalty his team was not awarded against South Africa in the previous tournament in the Ivory Coast, incorrectly stating that he was “suspended for no reason” at that tournament.
Regragui was suspended for two games at the previous edition for his role in a dispute with Congo captain Chancel Mbemba at the end of their game that led to a melee between players and team officials.
“The statistics always show us as better than the others,” Regragui said, getting back to this edition.
“We create far more opportunities than our opponents. Not a single goal was disallowed for Cameroon, or for any other team. When you want to get rid of something, you find a pretext.”
Mali and Tanzania also had penalty claims against Morocco rejected in previous games, while Morocco also had a penalty awarded after a VAR check in the draw against Mali.
Thousands of whistling Moroccan fans tried to help referee Abdou Abdel Mefire make up his mind. At the same time, he consulted replays before he eventually decided to penalise Mali’s Nathan Gassama for handball.
He initially ignored Jawad El Yamiq’s penalty-area foul on Mali’s Lassine Sinayoko before awarding it some minutes later after a VAR check.
There did not appear to be any VAR checks against Cameroon on Friday.
Morocco has played all its matches at the nearly 70,000-capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, where the vast majority of supporters are shouting for the home team, creating an intimidating atmosphere for opponents and referees.
“Today, Cameroon played the match they needed to play. I think they lost against a better team. I don’t think any player, coach, or anyone else is going to talk about the refereeing because there were a lot of physical battles today. This is Africa. But today, I think we deserved our victory,” said Regragui, who added his team also deserved to win all its previous games.
“That’s it. We’re trying to play on that field. I don’t think it’s fair play from those who want to see us fall. The best team will win this tournament, inshallah,” he said.
Morocco will play Nigeria at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, which is also the venue for the final on January 18.
The Atlas Lions are among the heavy favourites to win the tournament, having become the first African nation to reach the semifinals of a FIFA World Cup at the Qatar 2022 edition.
