FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said his team will aim to “eliminate France in four years’ time” after Les Bleus inflicted a second-successive World Cup defeat on the Atlas Lions to seal a semifinal clash against Spain or Belgium.
Second-half goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé ensured a 2-0 victory for France on Thursday — a repeat of the scoreline in the semifinal win at Al Bayt in Qatar 2022.
Despite going into this year’s quarterfinal will ambitions of becoming the first African team to win the World Cup, Morocco were ultimately beaten convincingly by Didier Deschamps’ team.
But with Morocco co-hosting the 2030 World Cup, Ouahbi — who guided Morocco’s U20s to success at the Under-20 World Cup in 2025 — said his team will now build and improve and be ready finally beat France in four years’ time.
“It is clear today that France was stronger,” Ouahbi said. “But we can progress and improve further and maybe eliminate them in four years’ time.
“We have a young team, we want to grow and we will continue to do so. Our young players will grow — we have a team that can win and achieve titles in the future.
“We can’t just say we are happy and proud with our achievements here — we need to move forward, be self-critical and assess the situation.
“We have a lot of young players, a great pool of talent, a strong federation and a King who invests a lot to help us arrive at the quarterfinals.
“The players are disappointed at this defeat of course, but we need this mentality to win. It’s very important to try to win and believe in yourselves.
“We wanted to win the World Cup. We are disappointed that we lost and that it’s over, but our people are happy with the image we have given them.”
France overcame their toughest test of the this tournament by defeating Morocco and Ouahbi said that Deschamps has a team that can do everything.
“France very good with the ball, they caused us so many problems,” he said. “We have to recognise it’s a great team with excellent players, so we aren’t looking for excuses.
“The French team is a beautiful team and have had a great team for a long time.
“They have been in the last two finals, they have so much talent — talent willing to run and make an effort and that makes a difference.
“When we lose possession, we know they can do very well in counter-attack. They showed we have to work even harder.
“They have incredibly good players in attack, When you have talent, you need to make them run, but they have a strong collective.
“They encourage each other and have all the qualities to win the World Cup.”
