Wahbi: The future of the Moroccan national team is "promising."

FIFA spoke about the reactions of the Moroccan national team components following their elimination from the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup, after losing to France by two goals to nil, confirming that the "Atlas Lions" look to the future with optimism despite the bitterness of their exit.

FIFA highlighted that the Moroccan national team achieved a historic feat by reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the second consecutive time, becoming the first African team to achieve this milestone, despite failing to surpass France and reach the semi-finals as they did in the Qatar 2022 edition.

The official website of the international federation reported statements from national coach Mohamed Wahbi, who acknowledged the superiority of the French team in the match, saying: "We must admit that we played against a very strong team. We suffered a lot in the first half, and Yassine Bounou's save from the penalty played an important role in keeping us in the game. In the second half, we defended better and became calmer when we had possession of the ball."

Wahbi confirmed that the Moroccan national team has a promising future, adding: "The ending was difficult, but we must continue to believe and work. We need to keep developing the base and expanding our options so that we can compensate for absences and fatigue. If we continue on this path, the future will be bright, because we have a great group of talented young players, and we will not let this loss discourage us."

FIFA also referred to the statements of young Moroccan international Ayoub Bouaddi, who considered facing France an important milestone in the team's development, stating: "We knew the match would be difficult, and all the players gave their utmost. This is football; you can't always win, but we are proud of what we presented and we aimed to make the Moroccan people happy."

Bouaddi concluded his remarks by affirming that this experience will help the team develop in the future, adding that the team is now aware of the aspects that need improvement in order to go far in upcoming competitions, foremost among them the 2030 World Cup, which the Kingdom of Morocco will host part of its competitions.