BOSTON: When Morocco left Qatar in 2022, they did so as heroes, having become the first African and Arab side to reach a World Cup semifinal. Four years later in the US, this time in the quarterfinals, they have lost to France 2-0 once again.
Same opponent, same result. Yet it is testament to Morocco’s journey that this felt less like glorious overachievement and more like a painful reminder of how much expectations have risen.
Moroccan coach Mohamed Ouahbi had led his country’s under-20s to World Cup glory in Chile last year, overcoming France en route. Yet despite coming into Thursday’s match unbeaten in his 10 games at the helm of the senior team — and speaking openly about leaving North America as champions — his players never looked like hurting a France side every bit as formidable as their favorites tag suggests.
Professional football has only existed in Morocco since 1996, more than two decades after the country became just the second Arab nation to appear at a World Cup.
Now, 30 years later, they have reached successive quarterfinals. That is cause for celebration, certainly, but watching the players traipse through their media commitments post-match made it clear that they expected more. There were no tears, but the disappointment was obvious.
“This is football — no excuses,” said Morocco’s backup goalkeeper Munir El-Kajoui. “In the end, we are among the eight best teams in the world, so we have to give thanks and be happy for that.
“But also we must be angry because we have the mentality to achieve great things with this national team. We must keep working to learn from this situation and get better, inshallah.”
Boston is home to one of the largest Moroccan communities in the US and the city was awash with red and green ahead of kickoff. Arabic voices floated through the streets of Somerville and Boston Common as women in hijabs and sports shirts sipped coffee while men in fez-inspired baseball caps chanted “dima maghreb” and danced draped in the national flag.
It was a similar scene inside the Boston Stadium. Every French touch was jeered and whistled, every Moroccan foray forwards matched by fans rising to their feet.
Traffic congestion en route meant the Moroccan presence in the stands appeared even more prominent as empty red seats blended with the volcanic sea of rouge around them.
A Moroccan journalist suggested to midfield starlet Ayyoub Bouaddi afterwards that, given how difficult his team had found it to impose themselves, it seemed as though they had remained stuck in the traffic too.
“No,” said Bouaddi, who was born in France but pledged his allegiance to the Atlas Lions.
“From the beginning, we knew we were going to face a very strong French team. But we came into the match ready to give everything and that’s what we did.
“After that, it’s football — we can’t win everything. A match isn’t an exact science. Things don’t always happen exactly as planned, and sometimes you have to adapt.”
There is certainly no shame in losing to Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus, who march on and will face either Spain or Belgium in the semifinals as they seek a third world title and a second in three editions.
Yet Bouaddi and company will regret not having made more of a fight of it. In 2022, Morocco were missing five players when they fell short against France in the final four. Here, they were only without new Bayern Munich striker Ismael Saibari, who had scored three in his last five starts, and could barely lay a glove on their opponents.
Ouahbi opted for Bilal El-Khannouss over Soufiane Rahimi, despite the latter averaging a goal every 90 minutes in North America. It was a decision that ultimately failed to pay off, the attacking verve witnessed against the Netherlands absent, the pace and unpredictability shown against Brazil nowhere to be seen. Morocco finished the match with only one shot on target.
In contrast, France looked dangerous throughout, with captain Kylian Mbappe missing a first-half penalty before opening the scoring with an exquisite curling strike.
Ouahbi responded by introducing Rahimi, but it was too late — reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele added the second six minutes later to end the contest.
Mbappe, who took his tournament tally to eight, was reluctant to crown this France side the best he has played in, insisting that only trophies define greatness.
It is a yardstick the Atlas Lions are learning to judge themselves by. They arrived in Qatar chasing history and left as heroes; they arrived in Boston chasing a title and left disappointed.
That might just be the clearest sign yet of how far the country has come. The next time they compete at a World Cup, they will be hosts. The expectations will only continue to increase.
