Coach says Morocco ‘no longer a surprise’ after reaching World Cup quarter-finals
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Azzedine Ounahi celebrating with Brahim Diaz after scoring Morocco’s second goal in their 3-0 World Cup last-16 win over Canada at NRG Stadium in Houston on July 4.
PHOTO: AFP
HOUSTON – Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said “we’re no longer a surprise” after reaching the World Cup quarter-finals on July 4 and hit back at “bold” claims by Canada’s Jesse Marsch.
The North African side were not at their best but were clinical in defeating the co-hosts 3-0 at NRG Stadium in Houston and will face France next.
Morocco made the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup and won the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations at home, and Ouahbi said: “We’re no longer a surprise today and that’s a great source of pride.
“I think this is only the beginning and I hope we’ll keep producing this kind of run for many years.”
Morocco lost to France in the last four at Qatar 2022, but the coach said revenge was not their motivation ahead of the rematch.
“We want to go as far as possible and make our people proud,” the 49-year-old said.
After Canada were the better team in the first half, Azzedine Ounahi scored twice for Morocco on 50 and 82 minutes to kill off the tie, before substitute Soufiane Rahimi added the gloss in added time.
Ounahi’s first goal, which came against the run of play via a well-worked free-kick routine, took the air out of a Canada side who had to do without their talisman Alphonso Davies, who has struggled with fitness issues throughout a tournament in which they notched their first point and win at a World Cup.
“Mentally for me, it was tough,” Davies, 25, said.
“Every game to sit there and watch, knowing you want to be on the pitch, it’s tough.
“At the end of the day, I knew I had to support the guys a different way.”
The two goals made Ounahi the first African player to score twice in a knockout-round match since Senegal’s Henri Camara notched a double against Sweden in 2002.
“They caused us a lot of problems with their pressing in the first half,” Morocco midfielder Neil El Aynaoui admitted.
“But the strength of this team for years now has been that we never give up and today it went our way.”
Ouahbi, meanwhile, said: “What we’re trying to get across to our players is that we’re playing in a World Cup, which means you go through difficult moments.
“What we needed to do was hold on and show resilience when things aren’t going so well.”
“We reacted very well in the second half in the second balls and the duels,” he added.
“I have to recognise that Canada were impressive – they played a top match.
“It was no surprise for us, but in the second half we were able to profit from the space they left us – that was the key.”
His opposite number Marsch said his Canada side had been the better team and hopes this is just the start, following a disappointing end to the biggest match in their footballing history.
“Before the tournament, if we would have said we’re in the last 16, I think we would have been pretty satisfied,” said the 52-year-old American.
“And by the way, before today, if someone said your team was going play like that, I would have said, ‘Okay, there’s a good chance we’re going to win the match’.
“But we totally, totally controlled the first half. And even at the start of the second half we were the aggressor, we were the ones that controlled the match.
“We were the ones that were more likely to score.”
Ouahbi, however, disagreed, saying: “In terms of intensity they were good, that has to be said. Were they better? Hard to say that when you lose 3-0 – it’s a bold claim.
“They were well organised, but I think in the second half there was no contest.
“In any case, I’m not sure many teams are going to win by that scoreline in the round of 16.”
While Morocco turn their attentions to the last eight, Marsch hopes the breakout tournament will be just the start for Canadian football.
He said: “Can we make sure that we continue to build the depth of what we’re doing with the team? Can we build that into our youth national teams?
“Can we build a real Canadian DNA into the kind of football we want to play, into the kind of infrastructure we want to have, into the kind of academies and the way we teach the game?” AFP, REUTERS
