Without offensive teeth, Morocco simply strikes out against France’s firepower
FOXBOROUGH — Six World Cup teams have been unable to figure out France. Paraguay came closest to showing the way, approaching the game like they were still fighting the Chaco War. Maybe Morocco thought it could do something similar, only better, with Achraf Hakimi on defense and a nearly unbeatable goalkeeper in Yassine Bounou.
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Not happening, though. The Moroccans were never going to trouble the French without a true striker in their lineup. They could defend all day, which they did. But missing a point of reference for clearances, and, also, a counterattacking threat, left them helpless as France won, 2-0, in a quarterfinal Thursday.
Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi was apparently planning, or hoping, to keep things tight until the final minutes, then either go for it with a striker or get the contest into penalty kicks — a Bounou specialty. Once Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring in the 60th minute, Ouahbi’s hand was forced. He sent in forward Soufiane Rahimi and setup midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, but it was too late.
There might not have been anything Ouahbi could have done without Ismael Saibari, out with an injury sustained in a 3-0 rout of Canada. Along with Rahimi, Morocco had two other forwards listed on the roster, Ayoube Amaimouni and Ayoub El Kaabi. Apparently, Ouahbi did not believe either could be effective.
That left it to 5-foot-6-inch Brahim Díaz to attempt to fill the forward role. Díaz, a highly-skilled Real Madrid star, is Morocco’s most accomplished attacker. But to be effective, Díaz must be in a position to complement a physical strike partner, or play as an attacking midfielder.
The Atlas Lions, like most teams, are used to being able to find a back-to-goal striker on clearances. And, so, early in the second half, attempting to play out of the back, they sent a high ball to Díaz in the center circle. French players, towering over Díaz, simply backed off as he attempted to head on. They regained possession and, seconds later, Mbappé converted.
So, they failed to match their 2022 semifinal run, going out quietly after a strong start that included a 1-1 tie with Brazil and a penalty kicks victory over the Netherlands. Their weaknesses were exposed, though in fairness, they also lost left winger Abde Ezzalzouli to injury before tournament. Another explanation for Morocco’s exit could be related to too much competing, and maybe not peaking at the right time. Last year, the team won the Arab Cup and Africa Cup of Nations, went 8-0-0 in qualifying, and had five friendlies for a total of 26 matches (23-1-2).
“I was quite surprised by the starting 11,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “I tried to understand why [Ouahbi] made these choices. No real forwards.”
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Deschamps also noted Morocco will be acting as co-host to the 2030 World Cup, and it has a young team, “leading you to believe Morocco has a bright future ahead.”
France, though, has few defects. Unless you count defenders shanking and whiffing on clearances. One nearly led to an own goal by Dayot Upamecano, another to a corner kick.
But Les Bleus are resourceful and, when mistakes occur, they are good at recovering, apparently eager to support each other.
That is what happened on the second goal. In the 66th minute, a casual turnover off a rabona from Michael Olise led to a Morocco breakaway. Olise’s teammates gave chase and earned a throw-in, which appeared to catch Morocco flat-footed; Ousmane Dembélé doubled the lead.
“France is very talented, they have incredibly good players,” Ouahbi said. “The are solid and very encouraging of each other. They want to go all the way.
“We are disappointed. We wanted to go on. The first half was very complicated. France is very good getting the ball wide and caused a lot of problems on the wings. They ended up being in a comfort zone. I wanted to make substitutions in the first half, but [decided] to do it later. At the beginning of the second half, we had more possession and were running more. But we have to recognize that [France] is a great team, great players. They were good in transition. And we lacked ideas and freshness, and we need to do more when we had possession.”
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