After failing to emulate their semifinal heroics of the 2022 World Cup, again running into a French roadblock, Morocco will reset their sights on the trophy as co-hosts of the next tournament.
They had been beaten by France in the semifinal in Qatar four years ago and this time were again outplayed in a 2-0 win for Les Bleus in Boston.
But Morocco’s performances at the expanded 48-team tournament can be judged a success, becoming the first African nation to reach successive quarterfinals, eliminating the Netherlands and giving Brazil a scare in their opening game of the tournament.
There had been some doubts about how they might fare given a coaching change just three months before the competition, but Mohamed Ouahbi made a seamless transition into the senior coach role from the junior ranks after leading Morocco to last year’s U-20 World Cup title.
Special attention
Morocco will now look to the next World Cup with special attention — they will be co-hosting the 2030 finals with Portugal and Spain and are, therefore, already qualified. “We have a young team who want to grow, who will continue to do so. We have talented players who will enable us to grow,” Ouahbi said.
It would be normal to presume Morocco would stick with their coach and give him time to improve his side, with winning the next World Cup as their target. But Ouahbi will have to negotiate two Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals in 2027 and 2028 before then and will be only too aware of the tenuous nature of coaching in Africa, where tournament failure invariably leads to change.
We need to take a step back and to see to it that we have a team that can make and generate dreams in the future and win titles to ensure we’re on the right track
— Mohamed Ouahbi, Morocco coach
His predecessor, Walid Regragui, was hounded out by Morocco fans after failing to win the Afcon final against Senegal in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, in January.
“We need to first qualify for the Cup of Nations and to win it.
“We need to take a step back and to see to it that we have a team that can make and generate dreams in the future and win titles to ensure we’re on the right track,” added Ouahbi.
Poor record
Morocco have a poor record in Afcon despite its top ranking on the continent. They had won a single African championship in 1976 before being handed the 2025 title after Senegal were stripped of the trophy for staging a walk-off during the final. That decision is being appealed and could be reversed.
Morocco will next be in action in September when the Afcon qualifiers get under way. They have Gabon, Lesotho and Niger in their group, in what looks like a routine assignment.
But if they have any hope of 2030 World Cup success, they will need to have a tougher diet of opponents to fine-tune their chances. “Of course, the Cup of Nations is not the World Cup. This is a different type of competition, with opponents that have different styles of play,” the coach said.
“So when you’re not used to playing these types of styles, when you’re not prepared for a World Cup, you can get eliminated very quickly.”
Reuters
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