Morocco coach Walid Regragui has made World Cup history

Walid Regragui hails from Corbeil-Essonnes, a large settlement on the River Seine which is in danger of being swallowed up by the urban sprawl of Paris.

A former right-back, his playing career was predominantly spent in the French leagues.

For Regragui, his first connection with his Moroccan heritage growing up was school holidays spent visiting relatives there.

It turns out, therefore, that Regragui is the perfect man to lead a Morocco team that is taking the World Cup by storm.

For many countries, a tournament squad where 14 of the 26 players were born overseas would be highly problematic.

Clearly not for Morocco, whose heroic performance in beating Spain on Tuesday has taken them on to an unexpected quarter-final against Portugal this weekend.

Regragui hasn't been in his job very long - he was only appointed on August 31 - but he has very adroitly navigated issues of blurred identity and allegiance that would have tripped up many.

'For this I have fought,' he said after the win over Spain, having received a standing ovation from journalists as he entered his press conference.

'Before this World Cup we had a lot of problems about the guys born in Europe and guys not born in Morocco and a lot of journalists said, "Why don't we play only with guys born in Morocco?"

'Today, we have shown that every Moroccan is Moroccan. When he comes to the national team, when they come with their passport, he wants to die, he wants to fight for their country.

'As the coach, I was born in France, and nobody can have my heart for my country.

'What is good is that players are born in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium - every country has a football culture and we have created a mixture.'

That is certainly true. Right-back Achraf Hakimi, outstanding against Spain, was actually born there - in a southern suburb of the capital Madrid and played in Real's academy.

Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine 'Bono' Bounou, who triggered an avalanche of U2 puns with his two penalty saves, was born in Montreal, Canada before moving to Morocco.

The team's captain, defender Romain Saiss, was also born in France and started off at amateur team Valence. You could go on.

Really, Regragui is now reaping the rewards of a process almost a decade in the making.

Morocco has a diaspora across Europe approaching five million. The majority - over 1.1million - settled in France but there are large Moroccan communities in Spain, Italy, Holland and Belgium.

The country's football association began a campaign in 2014 to 'bring back talents belonging to the soil.' Talented footballers with Moroccan heritage would be incentivised to represent the country rather than the nation of their birth.

Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech is certainly the biggest success of this policy to date.

Born in the Dutch town of Dronten, he was on the verge of committing to the Netherlands senior team when called up for friendlies against the United States and Latvia in May 2015.

But there was something in Ziyech that made him quit that camp and commit to Morocco later that year. He is probably talented enough to still be at this World Cup with Holland had things played out differently.

But what this team of diverse backgrounds needed was a coach to liberate them and Regragui has proved to be that man.

Not that his appointment was universally popular. Underwhelmed pundits mocked the balding coach disparagingly as 'avocado head'.

To his credit, Regragui went along with the joke, posing with an avocado in a FIFA interview ahead of the World Cup. Those critics are no doubt stony-faced now.

His predecessor, the Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, had fallen out with Ziyech over the alleged faking of an injury and 'poor attitude'. Halilhodzic also favoured a negative approach, stifling Morocco's innate creativity.

Regragui has changed all that, allowing greater attacking expression and yet also making Morocco incredibly resolute at the back.

The only goal they have conceded in four World Cup games - and that included the penalty shoot-out against Spain - was one they scored themselves, an own goal by West Ham defender Nayef Aguerd against Canada.

After drawing 0-0 against Croatia, they stunned Belgium and then secured top spot in Group F with a 2-1 win over the Canadians.

It didn't exactly win them a more straightforward last-16 draw because Spain finished behind Japan in their group. No matter.

Regragui may be largely unknown outside of Morocco but he is a proven winner as a coach. He has won the Botola - the country's top league - with both Faith Union Sport and Wydad AC.

Wydad also won the CAF Champions League under his stewardship, beating Egyptian club Al Ahly 2-0 in the 2022 final. In between, he led Al-Duhail to success in the Qatar Stars League.

Unbeaten in seven games as Morocco manager, he has now become the first African manager to get this far at a World Cup.

And as the first African Arab nation to get to a quarter-final, Morocco now enjoy the backing of all of Africa and all of the Arab world as well.

'I am very proud of my fans, my people and Arabic people, because I think you have Qatari people, maybe Algerian people, Tunisian people, Arabic people and African people, you have a lot of countries behind our backs to make history,' Regragui said.

Whatever happens against Portugal on Saturday, Morocco have done themselves proud. Avocados will very much be on the menu now.