Arab teams at 2026 World Cup: Morocco coach Ouahbi vows team will come back stronger after World Cup exit

FOXBOROUGH: Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi promised that his team will bounce back from their World Cup quarter-final exit against France on Thursday and keep building as they prepare to co-host the next tournament in 2030.
The Atlas Lions were hoping to at least match their historic run to the semifinals 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 toward 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 favorites 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