Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi admitted France deserved their 2-0 victory after the Atlas Lions were eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, saying his side lacked the creativity and freshness needed to compete with the former world champions.
Africa’s final representatives bowed out in the quarter-finals after second-half goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé sent France into the last four.
Reflecting on the defeat, Ouahbi acknowledged that Les Bleus created the better chances and punished Morocco in transition.
“They had the best chances. They were very effective in transitions too,” Ouahbi said after the match.
“We lacked ideas and we lacked freshness to maybe be able to do more with the ball.”
The Moroccan coach also commented on his players’ appeals for a handball in the build-up to Mbappé’s opening goal but refused to use the incident as an excuse for the defeat.
“They could have scored earlier because they had chances, but it’s true the goal came at a moment when some players stopped because they were appealing for a handball,” he said.
“It’s a shame because we would have liked to stay in the game a little longer and see if we could avoid conceding.”
Ouahbi ultimately accepted that France were the superior side on the night.
“It’s clear that today they were stronger than us, and we have to accept it. But we also feel capable of improving, of going even further and, why not, in four years’ time, competing with them again and being able to eliminate them.”
Despite the disappointment, Ouahbi believes Morocco’s long-term project remains firmly on track and has already shifted his attention to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
The coach stressed that winning the continental title is now the team’s immediate objective before turning its focus to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host alongside Spain and Portugal.
“Before the 2030 World Cup, there is still the Africa Cup of Nations and the qualifiers,” he said.
“If we want to arrive in 2030 in the best possible shape, we must prepare well for the upcoming matches, continue to build this team, qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations and try to win it.”
Although Morocco’s World Cup campaign ended in the quarter-finals, the Atlas Lions once again underlined their status as one of Africa’s leading football nations, reaching the last eight after their historic semi-final appearance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
