Jurgen Klinsmann hails Morocco’s 2022 World Cup achievements in Qatar: ‘They conquered the world’

Jurgen Klinsmann believes that Morocco will come away from the 2022 World Cup believing that they “conquered the world” in Qatar.

Josko Gvardiol opened the scoring on seven minutes, but two minutes later, Morocco equalised through Achraf Dari, and just before half-time, Mislav Orsisc grabbed the winner, though both teams had plenty of chances to change the course of the match.

Gvardiol is recognised as one of the best performers of the tournament despite being unable to halt Lionel Messi in the semi-final against Argentina.

Morocco were unhappy with some refereeing decisions but the former Germany and United States manager suggested that once emotions have settled, Morocco will reflect proudly on their achievements.

Morocco are the first African and first Arabic nation to reach the semi-final stages, and while they were disappointed with the final result, they were again impressive as they attempted to secure a third-place finish.

Speaking on BBC One after the match, Klinsmann said: “They will realise they conquered the world, they showed that an African nation can go all the way to the semi-finals.”

Coming up against World Cup veterans Croatian, who have contested every World Cup from 1998 since the formation of their country after the break-up of Yugoslavia, was a step too far for Morocco.

Klinsmann acknowledged that Luka Modric’s men were the deserved winners as they were the better side and more ruthless.

“The last final piece was just lacking. They did well but you had the feeling they were never going to win this game.”

Alex Scott agreed that Morocco would not let the disappointment cloud their success. Given the historic achievements of the North African country, the pundit suggested that the players would ultimately realise what a step forward it had been to reach the final four, and be in a position to contest Saturday’s game.

“The game gave us everything we wanted,” he said. “The pure emotion. We don’t want these scenes from Morocco players, but that’s what it means for their country, how proud they are. You can see how much it means to them.”