The Morocco coach is eyeing World Cup revenge after a second straight defeat to France

Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said his side will use Thursday’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by France as motivation for the future, declaring the Atlas Lions will aim to knock out Les Bleus the next time the two sides meet on football’s biggest stage.

France secured a 2-0 win at Gillette Stadium near Boston to book a place in the semi-finals, with second-half goals from Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele ending Morocco’s campaign. It was the second World Cup in a row in which France eliminated the Atlas Lions by the same scoreline as they defeated them in the semi-finals in Qatar four years ago.

Despite the disappointment, Ouahbi refused to dwell on the defeat and instead looked ahead to the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal.

France vs Morocco, FIFA World Cup: HIGHLIGHTS

“France is a really great side. We played a country that has been to the last two World Cup finals and they’ve rarely had as much talent as they do now,” Ouahbi said.

“It’s clear today that France was stronger. But we can progress and improve and maybe eliminate them in four years.

“We know we can compete and what we want to do is work even harder to try to do even better next time.”

Morocco were hoping to at least match their historic run to the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup, but France stood in their way again.

Ouahbi, who insisted on the eve of the match that a quarter-final would not satisfy his ambitions, said the result was hard to accept but believed his players had left everything on the pitch.

“I think it’s important to do everything to try to win and I think we tried everything,” he said.

“We want to go further and win the World Cup, so we are disappointed because we lost, but we have to accept it.”

The Belgian-born coach was appointed in March after replacing Walid Regragui, who stepped down following Morocco’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign earlier this year.

With the next AFCON scheduled to be held next year in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Ouahbi said the tournament would be Morocco’s immediate focus before attention shifts to the 2030 World Cup on home soil.

“We have the AFCON before that and if we want to do well we have to keep building, try to qualify for it and win,” he said.

“We have a huge talent pool and a strong federation, so we have everything you could possibly need to keep improving and moving forward.”

A youthful Morocco side, which included French-born teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, showed promise during the tournament, but Ouahbi acknowledged that France’s quality ultimately made the difference.

“We have to admit they are so good. They could have scored before they did but we wanted to hang on for a while and see how they react,” he said.

“We have a talented young team and we want to improve. This tournament will help us improve.

“These players have had an extraordinary year with the AFCON in the middle, so it’s not easy.

“We have to come back in September, pick ourselves up and carry on.

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Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

10 Jul 2026 09:31 IST