The French coach of Morocco Reynald Pedros assured that he will have “no remorse and scruple to beat” and eliminate the France team, on the eve of the round of 16 of the World Cup, “a match to win for Morocco” .
How do you feel on the eve of this eighth against France?
“Emotions are always hard to express but it’s so sudden. Whether it’s me or the staff or the players, we’ve seen a kind of absolutely wonderful liberation that sport gives us, it doesn’t exist anywhere else. It’s a special match because I’m French and my staff is French. But my heart is Moroccan, we’ve been working hard for this incredible goal for three years, and we’re getting there with a fantastic group. I really like this country, I discovered it, I’m very happy there. Today I will have no remorse or qualms about beating France. It’s special yes, but for me, it’s a game to win for Morocco. And afterwards, if the France team is stronger than us, we will go out with honors.
You find players from Olympique Lyonnais that you have coached, such as Wendie Renard or Eugénie Le Sommer, how do you feel?
“There is surely a wink of fate. In the draw we are a little ambitious, we look at the eighth and we realize that by leaving the pools we can play France. We think that would be funny. For us it is utopian. Then you don’t think about it for quite a while, and you think about it even less after the first game. I know the players of the France team, I know those I have coached, the others too. I am very happy to find them at this level, I will be very happy to eliminate them too.
Can you recount your experience?
“I had the chance to train the best club and the best team in the world (Lyon). It helped me enormously when I arrived in Morocco to ensure that training requirements were of a very high level. I knew that the quality was different, but in the involvement and the work requirement, the same thing had to be done. Make the players understand that they were capable of it. The work we are doing with this team makes me think that we are on the right path, that we are working quite well and that we must continue in this direction. We would have thought that we had to change our tune after Germany, and we continued and we stayed in the same line of work. The experience of a footballer is good too, because you put yourself in the shoes of the players at certain times.