African teams' new ambition is to reach World Cup final — Oliseh

Former Super Eagles defender and Coach Sunday Oliseh believes the Atlas Lions have raised the bar when it comes to the African teams' performance at the premier football competition.

Morocco made history by becoming the first African country to qualify for the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup after beating Portugal in the quarterfinals of the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana were the only African teams to have made it to the last 8 of the World Cup prior to Morocco's historic feat in Qatar.

The North Africans, however, fell on the sword of the world champions in the semi-finals as France beat the high-flying Moroccan team by 2-0 at the Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday, December 14.

The ex-Borussia Dortmund defender now believes Morocco's achievement will serve as an inspiration to the African teams to aim for higher heights in subsequent World Cup tournaments.

"The essence of having records is to push people to break them," Oliseh told BBC Sport Africa.

"So, if your record has only been the quarter-final, the aim will be to get to the semi-final. The new ambition is now no longer just the semi-final, the ambition now is getting to the final."

Coach Walid Regragui's team have been tipped as favourites to win bronze ahead of their third-place playoff against Croatia on Saturday, December 17.

WDN