Morocco coach Walid Regragui felt his troops were already thinking about going away on holidays when they lost 2-1 to Bafana Bafana in a dead rubber Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

“They (players) have their minds on the holidays and I understand that. I said in the press conferences before that I don’t care if we lose two or three  games before Afcon and I think my players listened to that today (Saturday),” Regragui said.

Bafana and Morocco headed into this encounter having already secured their berths at the upcoming Afcon finals, to be staged by Ivory Coast early next year. From the word go, Bafana were more purposeful, powered by a vibrant crowd of approximately 56,000 people.

Bafana took the lead via an own goal by Morocco goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi, who attempted to catch the ball from a Percy Tau cross but ended up somehow fumbling the ball into the back of his own net just five minutes into the game. SA increased their lead courtesy of Zakhele Lepasa’s tap-in three minutes after the halftime break, before Hakim Ziyech netted what ended up as a consolation for the visitors on the hour mark.

Regragui didn’t take anything away from Bafana, insisting they were worthy winners as he lauded the Hugo Broos-coached side’s intensity in their approach. The Morocco mentor was convinced his side improved a bit in the second stanza.

“Congratulations to SA, Bafana Bafana. I think they deserve this victory at home. They played very well with intensity, with good spirit. In the first half we played with less intensity, you think the game is easy.

“In the second half we played with more intensity, creating more opportunities. I learnt a lot from this game,” Regragui stated.