Talib: Changing player positions is behind the elimination... and we didn't see the French national team's goalkeeper.

The exit of the Moroccan national team from the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup against France has reopened the discussion about the technical choices made by national coach Mohamed Wahbi, amid varying opinions from coaches and analysts regarding the reasons for the elimination, with some attributing it to a difference in capabilities, while others considered that the tactical approach was one of the main factors that affected the course of the match.

For his part, Abdel Rahim Talib, coach of the Rwandan army team, stated that the players of the national team "respected their French counterparts too much in yesterday's match, as they focused excessively on defensive activation at the expense of offensive activation." He pointed out that "during the first half, we were sending any ball we recovered back, as if we were waiting for the end of the match with a draw or going to penalties. This approach gave the French team more confidence and put our players in a wave of doubt about their technical, individual, and collective abilities."

Talib mentioned, in a statement to Hespress, that changing the positions of some players negatively affected the collective and tactical performance of the team, as placing Khenous in attack and Talabi on the left side clearly impacted offensive activation from the flanks. As a result, the national team was not at the required level during the first half, to the extent that they could not even see the opponent's goalkeeper.

The Moroccan coach continued: "The formation and tactics always remain within the coach's and technical staff's choices. However, I believed that after we conceded the goal, we should have taken more risks in attack and played with two strikers. But the technical staff preferred to make changes that included the left-back, midfield, and wings, while it was possible to rely on two experienced strikers like Al Kaabi or Rahimi in this elimination match."

The speaker emphasized that the lack of experience let everyone down in this global tournament, especially when comparing the Moroccan team to the French counterpart. Except for players like Diaz, Hakimi, Mazraoui, and Bono, and to a lesser extent Khenous, the rest of the team members are playing their first matches in this difficult round. In contrast, Morocco faced a seasoned team that includes the best players in the world who have previously reached the World Cup final.