Star Metro - Morocco coach Ouahbi vows team will come back stronger after World Cup exit

The Atlas Lions were hoping to at least match their historic run to the semi-finals in Qatar in 2022, but once again their World Cup hopes were ended by Les Bleus.

The 2-0 defeat at the Gillette Stadium near Boston was a repeat of the scoreline when the sides met in the semis four years ago, and Morocco must now turn their attentions towards future challenges after a draining last seven months.

"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," acknowledged Ouahbi, after the last-eight contest was settled by second-half goals from Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.

"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 on the eve of the game that he would not consider going out in the quarter-finals as a success.

"I think it's important to do everything to try to win and I think we did try everything," he added on Thursday.

"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."

Ouahbi was appointed in March to succeed Walid Regragui, who departed following the team's run to the Africa Cup of Nations final on home soil at the beginning of the year.

Morocco were favourites to win that competition, but lost 1-0 after extra time in a chaotic final against Senegal, marked by a walk-off protest by their opponents in response to a penalty given to the hosts.

Senegal were later stripped of their title as a punishment for that by the Confederation of African Football. Morocco were declared as the winners, but a Senegalese appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport is ongoing.

- 'Hotbed of talent' -

Another AFCON comes around next year, in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and that will be Morocco's next objective -- qualifying begins in September.

Ouahbi insisted the AFCON was the immediate priority, before focusing on the 2030 World Cup which Morocco 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," said the Belgian-born coach.

"We have a huge hotbed of talent and a strong federation, so we have everything you could need to keep improving and moving forward."

The Morocco team against France featured a host of exciting young players, including French-born teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi -- but beating such strong opposition proved beyond them.

"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," said Ouahbi.

"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."

S.Belanger--SMC