• Morocco coach Walid Regragui celebrates with the team after the 2-1 Group F win against Canada at Al Thumama Stadium on December 1, 2022 in Doha. Getty
    Morocco coach Walid Regragui celebrates with the team after the 2-1 Group F win against Canada at Al Thumama Stadium on December 1, 2022 in Doha. Getty
  • Morocco players celebrate after the team's qualification to the knockout stages. Getty
    Morocco players celebrate after the team's qualification to the knockout stages. Getty
  • Morocco players celebrate after the match. Getty
    Morocco players celebrate after the match. Getty
  • Hakim Ziyech celebrates scoring Morocco's first goal. AFP
    Hakim Ziyech celebrates scoring Morocco's first goal. AFP
  • Hakim Ziyech celebrates scoring Morocco's first goal. AFP
    Hakim Ziyech celebrates scoring Morocco's first goal. AFP
  • Hakim Ziyech celebrates with teammates after scoring. EPA
    Hakim Ziyech celebrates with teammates after scoring. EPA
  • Ziyech is congratulated by teammates. AFP
    Ziyech is congratulated by teammates. AFP
  • Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri celebrates after scoring the second goal. AFP
    Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri celebrates after scoring the second goal. AFP
  • Youssef En-Nesyri celebrates with Azzedine Ounahi. AFP
    Youssef En-Nesyri celebrates with Azzedine Ounahi. AFP
  • Canada's Alphonso Davies and Cyle Larin celebrate after Morocco's Nayef Aguerd scores an own goal to reduce the deficit. AP
    Canada's Alphonso Davies and Cyle Larin celebrate after Morocco's Nayef Aguerd scores an own goal to reduce the deficit. AP
  • Canada's Sam Adekugbe and Steven Vitoria celebrate the own goal scored by Morocco's Nayef Aguerd. Reuters
    Canada's Sam Adekugbe and Steven Vitoria celebrate the own goal scored by Morocco's Nayef Aguerd. Reuters
  • Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan and his team applaud their fans after elimination. AP
    Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan and his team applaud their fans after elimination. AP

Morocco 'capable of great things' after World Cup advance, says Regragui


Steve Luckings
  • English
  • Arabic

Coach Walid Regragui said Morocco are "capable of great things" after reaching the World Cup knockout rounds for the first time in 36 years on Thursday.

The North Africans punched their ticket to the last 16 thanks to a 2-1 win over Canada to finish top of Group F ahead of 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia.

Morocco play Spain for a place in the quarter-finals on Monday while Croatia face Japan. It is only the second time Morocco have reached the knockout rounds having previously done so in 1986.

Regragui said his team's performance in the group – which also included a win over Belgium and a draw against Croatia – was down to a determination to "change the mindset" of Morocco's national team.

Now France-born former Morocco international Regragui says the team is dreaming of going further than the last 16 – even winning the tournament.

"We set ourselves an objective – we said we wanted to give everything we've got and get out of the group stages. We can tick that box now," Regragui said.

"So why not aim for the sky? We needed to change and we needed to change our mentality. We're not going to stop here. We're going to respect every opponent. But we are going to be very difficult opponents. So why not dream about lifting that trophy?

"We know that African teams need to set themselves objectives. We drew with Croatia. We beat Belgium. We beat Canada. We're realistic, but we know what we're worth. We'll take it one game at a time ... But if we're 100 percent and fighting fit we're capable of great things."

Regragui, who only took over as Morocco coach in August after the dismissal of predecessor Vahid Halilhodzic, said he had been determined to model Morocco's mental approach on European and South American teams at the World Cup.

"Right from the beginning I have been talking about changing our mindset," Regragui said. "We didn't come here just to play and say 'We almost qualified [for the last 16]'.

"We want to play our own game, but we also need to get the results and do as all European or South American teams do. We need to emulate them. I don't see any teams here that have just come to play. They come with a plan.

"So there is the mentality change. We didn't want to fall prey to this negativity. The idea is to stay strong. We need to duplicate the play of European teams, with our own values. That's what I tried to do today."

Morocco's Sofyan Amrabat, left, and Canada's Alphonso Davies, right, challenge for the ball. AP Photo
Morocco's Sofyan Amrabat, left, and Canada's Alphonso Davies, right, challenge for the ball. AP Photo

Back at the World Cup for the first time in 36 years, Canada came to Qatar with high expectations and a bit of swagger but stumbled out of the tournament on Thursday after a third straight loss and head home licking their wounds.

Coach John Herdman praised his men for their fearlessness and attacking style but after Thursday's defeat to Morocco the end result was the same as in Canada's only other World Cup appearance in 1986 – three losses.

"I think there's been some big moments," said Herdman. "As a football country we can definitely be proud of the performances.

"We always said the world level is the next level and I don't think we were far off tonight ... from getting our first result.

"I think for all of us we need to take a deep breath and enjoy what we have experienced here and ask the hard questions because that is part of growth as we move through to 2026.

"This isn't Canada walking away with our heads down, we can keep our heads up."

Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat

Barbara J King, University of Chicago Press 

The low down

Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films

Director: Namrata Singh Gujral

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark

Rating: 2/5

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

MATCH SCHEDULE

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Tuesday, April 24 (10.45pm)

Liverpool v Roma

Wednesday, April 25
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid (10.45pm)

Europa League semi-final, first leg
Thursday, April 26

Arsenal v Atletico Madrid (11.05pm)
Marseille v Salzburg (11.05pm)

Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Rating: 2/5
 

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Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

Company Fact Box

Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019

Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO

Based: Amman, Jordan

Sector: Education Technology

Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed

Stage: early-stage startup 

Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus 

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Updated: December 02, 2022, 5:43 AM