Morocco’s coach thinks his team has the makings of a champion.
Morocco defeated Haiti 4–2 in the final match of Group C play to finish as runners-up in the group. They now face the Netherlands in the Round of 32. Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said after the match Wednesday that he believes the team has the belief and the fighting spirit to hoist the championship trophy.
“Well, they didn’t surprise us,” Ouahbi said of Haiti. “And I think I said this in the pre-match press conferences: we knew the quality of this team, and above all, their intent. Many thought that, having been eliminated, they wouldn’t really go for it, but we knew very well that they would actually perform even better and play with more freedom in this match. So, we expected that. We expected a game like this. Now I wish them great success in the future because they certainly earned it. They’re out, but they really played well.”
Morocco dominated the match. They possessed the ball 60 percent of the time, while Haiti only had it 31 percent. They took 22 shots at the goal; Haiti only managed 9 shots. They completed 495 of 557 passes; Haiti only completed 212 of 265 passes. And were it not for a pass into the goal area that bounced off goalie Yassine Bounou’s foot for an own-goal, they would have limited Haiti to just one goal.
But Haiti showed fight: they forced 50 turnovers to Morocco’s 38, and pressed the ball handler 331 times to Morocco’s 172.
Ouahbi lamented several lost opportunities in the first half of play and said the team needed to manage their transitions better, but otherwise had no complaints.
“I’m satisfied, of course. We won a World Cup match,” Ouahbi said.
“I think it’s also a match where, when you see the stats, I don’t think we’ve ever had stats like this in a World Cup, with so many chances, with such strong dominance. ... Now, I’m not going to talk about individual players, of course, but what you have to realize is that it’s not easy for some players who haven’t had any playing time to start a World Cup match with that kind of intensity. And that’s why we saw some players growing into the match and finding their rhythm, and performing better. So, I’m very satisfied.”
Morocco now moves on to the Round of 32, where they will take on a Netherlands side that unleashed a flurry of offense in their final two matches of group play: after tying Japan in the first match, 2-2, they unloaded on Sweden, 5-1, then defeated Tunisia 3-1.
But playing a difficult opponent is of no concern. Ouahbi said that his team’s performance has given them a sense of belief in themselves.
“Morocco, as I said before the World Cup, has entered a new dimension—a dimension where the team believes in itself, the players believe in themselves, the Moroccan public and fans believe in the team, and opponents respect Morocco,” he said.
“So, I think we’re starting to enter a realm where we have to believe, we have to aim for that title. How are we going to go after that title? How are we going to reach that goal? Naturally, by giving 200 percent in every match and respecting every opponent. Preparing for the match just as we prepared for Brazil, just like the Haiti game, and preparing for the Round of 16 the same way, but always with the same ambition. Personally, I’m someone who believes strongly in the work I do and the work my staff does; today, we have all the ingredients to be a truly great nation. So, we have to believe. And so I believe, and I get the feeling that many, many Moroccans—as well as the staff and players—do too. So, that’s a great thing.”
Ouahbi said they would make the necessary corrections ahead of Monday’s match, be they mental, technical, tactical, or physical. He also said he wanted to maintain an aggressive character, willing to take shots and attack the near-post area. He sensed that mentality in their play so far. He said he wanted to tune out external noise, analyze their opponent, and address the details and corrections.
But the biggest factor impacting Ouahbi’s confidence was the team’s united spirit.
“It’s a great group,” he said. “It’s a united squad. ... We have a real group. Honestly, that’s why I’m so confident. Football is football, regardless of who we face next. We have a real group, a real team, a real identity, a real coaching staff, and real supporters. We have everything we need—God willing—to believe we can do it.”
