Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi says his side will regroup and keep building after their World Cup run ended in the quarter-finals against France on Thursday, with attention now turning toward next year’s Africa Cup of Nations and Morocco’s role co-hosting the 2030 World Cup.
The Atlas Lions had hoped to at least match their historic run to the semi-finals in Qatar in 2022, but France ended their tournament again, this time 2-0 at Gillette Stadium near Boston, the same scoreline that eliminated Morocco in the 2022 semi-final. Second-half goals from Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele settled Thursday’s contest. “France are a really great side. We were playing a country who have been to the last two World Cup finals, and they have rarely had as much talent as they do now,” Ouahbi said. “We know we can compete, and what we want to do is work even harder to try to do even better next time.”
Ouahbi had said before the match that a quarter-final exit would not count as success, and he held to that assessment afterward. “I think it’s important to do everything to try to win and I think we did try everything. We want to go even further and win the World Cup, so we are disappointed because we have lost, but we have to accept it,” he said.
The Belgian-born coach was appointed in March, succeeding Walid Regragui after Morocco’s run to the Africa Cup of Nations final on home soil earlier in the year. Morocco entered that final as favourites but lost 1-0 after extra time in a chaotic match against Senegal, marked by a walkout protest from the Senegalese side over a penalty awarded to the hosts. The Confederation of African Football later stripped Senegal of the title over that protest and declared Morocco champions, though Senegal’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport remains ongoing.
With qualifying for the next AFCON, set for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, beginning in September, Ouahbi said that tournament is Morocco’s immediate priority, ahead of the 2030 World Cup the country will co-host alongside Spain and Portugal. “Before that we have an AFCON and if we want to do well we need to keep building, try to qualify for that and win it,” he said. “We have a huge hotbed of talent and a strong federation, so we have everything you could need to keep improving and moving forward.”
Thursday’s squad featured several promising young players, including French-born teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, though it wasn’t enough against a stronger French side. “We have to acknowledge that they are such a good side. They could have scored earlier than they did, but we wanted to hold on a little longer and see how they were going to react,” Ouahbi said. “We have a talented young team and we want to get better. This tournament will help us improve. These players have had an extraordinary year, with an AFCON in the middle, so it is not easy. We need to come back in September, pick ourselves up, and keep going.”
