Morocco coach Walid Regragui has hailed his team as history makers after they followed up their giant-killing feats of last year’s World Cup with their first win over Brazil in a friendly in Tangier on Saturday.
The Atlas Lions became the first Arab team to defeat the five-times world champions, with goals from Sofiane Boufal and substitute Abdelhamid Sabiri earning Morocco a 2-1 victory.
“It feels like I’m dreaming,” Regragui told reporters. “We wrote history. We beat Brazil, who are number one in the FIFA rankings and the country of football.”
The match, Morocco’s first since their stunning run to last year’s World Cup semi-finals, was played out in a festive atmosphere at a sold-out Ibn Batouta stadium in front of more than 65,000 fans.
“To make the celebration beautiful, we had to win this match and that’s what we did,” Morocco centre back Romain Saiss said.
“We were at the level even though it was complicated. The mental state of the team made the difference and made people happy again and that’s what is important.”
Boufal opened the scoring in the 29th minute before Casemiro equalised for Brazil after an error by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, but substitute Sabiri scored Morocco’s winner with a powerful shot 11 minutes from time.
The result was further proof of the strides Morocco have made under Regragui.
They became the first Arab team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals last year and the first African team to make the semi-finals, beating Belgium, Spain and Portugal on the way.
“All the players fought,” Regragui added. “We weren’t good in the second half, but I liked our fighting spirit.
“The defence didn’t back down and we tried to make our fans happy.”
They will head into their next match against Peru in Madrid tomorrow full of confidence.
“With this high morale, we’ll try to beat Peru as well, despite the difficulty and lack of time in the month of Ramadan,” Regragui said.
“I wouldn’t say we lacked understanding, it’s about putting into practice the ideas of a new coach,” said Manchester United’s Casemiro.
“I think we played a good game and did everything as far as possible to win.”
Only 10 of the 23-man squad that took Brazil to a disappointing quarter-final exit at the World Cup made the trip to Morocco for the game.
The injured Neymar was again missing with his number 10 shirt passing to Real Madrid youngster Rodrygo. Brazil also had a new manager in the dugout with interim coach Ramon Menezes having replaced Tite who stepped down after the World Cup last-eight exit at the hands of Croatia.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) hopes to be able to announce the name of its new coach before the start of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in September.
According to Brazilian media, the CBF’s first choice is Carlo Ancelotti, currently in charge of Real Madrid. However, he is not expected to make a decision on his future before the end of the European season.
Before kick-off at the Ibn Batouta stadium, both teams paid tribute to Pele, who died last December at the age of 82.
Until Saturday, Morocco had suffered defeats in their only two other meetings with Brazil – 2-0 in a 1997 friendly and 3-0 in the group stages of the 1998 World Cup in France.