MOSCOW: Moroccan coach Herve Renard has promised that the team will learn the lessons from the their World Cup heartache and return stronger in the future.
The Atlas Lions may have exited the tournament without a win, but they collected plenty of plaudits after narrow 1-0 defeats against Iran and Uruguay and a 2-2 draw with Spain.
Morocco finished bottom of Group B with Spain and Portugal going through with five points each, and Iran taking third with four points.
But while the table will not make happy viewing for Moroccan fans, their match against Spain once again proved they belong at the top table. It was by far their best performance and and a match they were very unlucky not to win, only a late Iago Aspas goal getting the 2010 world champions on level terms in the last minute.
That ending on a high has left the Atlas Lions hopeful that the best is yet to come.
“It has been an exceptional experience,” Revard said.
“I came here to learn and we have learnt a great deal in the three matches. We have learnt how to play at a high level.”
Taking in some of the top teams in the world has shown Morocco what is needed to compete at the highest level according to Revard.
“In Africa we seldom have the ball possession like Spain have and we had to adapt and adjust to protect the central midfield,” he said.
“These lessons are important even when you see it on television but when you have to take on a team with players like (Andres) Iniesta then you can see how they can give us difficulties between 20 and 40 minutes and we had to correct this and these kinds of lessons are fantastic for a coach.”
Overall, the French coach was left to lament that his team did not quite manage to get the points they deserved in their first World Cup appearance in 1998.
“We should have had a draw in the opening game but were caught in the last minute. If we get a point there then things could have been very different. We perhaps lacked experience.”
In the end being placed in what was perhaps the toughest group in the entire tournament was a little too much for Morocco. Portugal are the defending European champions with Spain traditional European powerhouses.
“We took on two of the very best teams in the world and we represented Morocco,” Renard added. “It was a magical moment. We would have loved to have got to the next round. “We can be proud of what we have done and proud of the team. Today was fantastic to hear the Moroccan anthem in Russia which is far away. This is something quite moving and will be forever in our memories.”
According to the coach, who would not be drawn as to whether he would stay with the team, there is still much for Morocco to learn from the World Cup even now they are heading home.
“We have to savour the moment of being here and what we did and we will think of the future later. For now, we have to keep watching the high-level teams that are still in the competition and keep learning as much as much as we can.”
Morocco out to learn from their World Cup woe
Morocco out to learn from their World Cup woe
- Morocco may be out of the tournament but they won a lot of fans with their display against Spain.
- Coach Renard certain side can learn from their time in Russia.
Vonn crashes out of Winter Olympics in brutal end to medal dream
- The 41-year-old was just 13 seconds into her run when she lost control
- Skiing legend was aiming to win another medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy: Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the Winter Olympics downhill on Sunday, brutally ending the American skiing great’s improbable dream of winning a medal despite competing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Vonn was just 13 seconds into her run in bright sunshine in Cortina d’Ampezzo when she lost control, twisted in the air and crumpled in the snow.
The 41-year-old’s cries of pain could be heard on the microphones as medical staff attended to the stricken skier on the piste.
Thousands of spectators at the bottom of the run fell silent as they watched the images of the crash on giant screens.
Vonn was eventually strapped into a stretcher and winched into the air by helicopter to be flown to hospital.
Her US teammate Breezy Johnson went on to win the gold medal, but her first thoughts were for Vonn, saying: “My heart goes out to her. I hope it’s not as bad as it looked.”
Johnson finished in front of Germany’s Emma Aicher by just 0.04sec with Italy’s Sofia Goggia taking bronze in front of her home fans.
Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow, who watched the crash on giant screens at the course, said: “That definitely was the last thing we wanted to see.”
Hopes dashed
Just two weeks ago, Vonn, one of global sport’s most recognizable faces, looked in contention to cap a remarkable comeback from retirement by winning the second Olympic gold medal of her career — her last came 16 years ago in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
She had retired in 2019 but returned to the slopes in 2024 after surgery to insert a titanium implant in her right knee to quell persistent pain.
But her Olympic plans were thrown into disarray when she crashed in a World Cup race at Crans Montana, Switzerland, on January 30.
In a press conference once she arrived in Italy, she admitted she had ruptured her ACL in the crash, but insisted she could still compete for medals.
“This is not obviously what I had hoped for.... I know what my chances were before the crash and and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today,” she said then.
“But I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there’s a chance I will try.”
She even batted aside those who doubted her ability to perform with such an injury, taking to social media to fire back at a sports doctor for doubting her ACL tear was as bad as she claimed.
In other action on Sunday, the second full day of the Milan-Cortina Games, Czech snowboarder Zuzana Maderova won gold in the women’s parallel giant slalom after the shock exit of defending champion Ester Ledecka.
Ledecka crashed out in the quarter-finals as the Czech chased what would have been a historic snowboarding title in three consecutive Olympics.
Maderova enjoyed a comfortable victory over Ledecka’s conqueror Sabine Payer, cruising to victory by 0.83sec.
In Tesero, Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo racked up the sixth Olympic gold medal of his career by taking the skiathlon title.
Later, attention will switch the ice rink as the USA go into the final day of the figure skating team event seeking to resist a stiff challenge from Japan.
Ilia Malinin, the US sensation who was upstaged on his Olympic debut on Saturday by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, skates again on Sunday in the free program.
