France did it to Morocco again at the World Cup. For the second straight tournament, Morocco was ousted by the French 2-0 – this time in the quarterfinals on Thursday at Gillette Stadium, four years after losing by the same score in the semifinals.
With very few attacking chances, Morocco landed only one shot on goal, and that came in the 82nd minute while already trailing by two goals.
It was the same ending as in Qatar, when the Atlas Lions became the first African team to reach the semifinals at a World Cup.
“The future will be bright if we continue like this, but that doesn´t mean we didn´t want to win today. Of course, we wanted to win today,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said through a translator. “We did everything we could to win, but we faced a very difficult opponent. It´s a disappointment, of course, but we´ll keep working for the future.” The Atlas Lions’ best chance came when midfielder Azzedine Ounahi had a shot from the edge of the box but goalkeeper Mike Maignan made a diving stop, knocking the ball away and, essentially, ending the hopes of Morocco.
“They had no real forwards using their speed in the wide areas,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “We were possessing the ball, they had no way to be dangerous to us.”
It wasn´t like Morocco didn´t make a hard push at this year’s World Cup. They recruited talented 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi, who could have been playing with France’s youth teams. He was born in Senlis, an hour north of Paris, and after representing France in every age group possible, he switched allegiance.
“We know we represent more than just one country,” Ouahbi said. “We represent the Moroccan people, and many countries across Asia and Africa. Many people see themselves in this team, and we´ll keep working to win titles in the future.”
Morocco´s best opportunity in the opening half came just before the halftime whistle when Achraf Hakimi sent a free kick from just outside the box past the right post.
“The first half was very complicated. France was very good with the ball,” Ouahbi said. “They caused a lot of problems on the sides with their players, and also in the center. When we had ball possession, our transitions were not so great, so we had to run a bit more and they ended up being in a comfort zone.”