Morocco suffer major injury blow ahead of France World Cup quarter-final

Morocco star Ismael Saibari will miss his team’s World Cup quarter-final showdown with France, coach Mohamed Ouahbi confirmed on Wednesday.

“Everyone is 100 percent fit except Saibari. This game comes too soon for him but I hope he is not out for the rest of the competition,” Ouahbi told reporters ahead of Thursday’s last-eight showdown at the Gillette Stadium near Boston.

Saibari, who has just joined Bayern Munich from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on a five-year deal for a reported fee of 50 million euros ($57 million), has been one of the standout players at the World Cup.

He scored in each of his team’s three group games and converted the winning penalty in the shoot-out as Morocco beat the Netherlands in the last 32.

However, the attacking midfielder came off early on with a hamstring problem in the 3-0 win against Canada in the last 16 last Saturday, and has not recovered.

Soufiane Rahimi, who is an out-and-out striker, came on for Saibari in that game and scored Morocco’s third goal.

The Atlas Lions are seeking to avenge their 2-0 defeat against France in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

That was the first time any African or Arab team had made it to the last four of the tournament, and the incentive for them this time is to match that run.

Ouahbi dismissed suggestions that his team can say they have already had a successful tournament by getting to the quarter-finals.

“We absolutely want to win the game tomorrow, so we will not listen to people who say it doesn’t matter if we go out now,” said the coach, who took over from predecessor Walid Regragui in March.

“Tomorrow we will try get to the semi-finals. I don’t like this sentiment that we have already done well and anything else is a bonus,” added Ouabi, who said he watched the 2022 meeting of the sides as a fan, on television.

Meanwhile, Morocco’s Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz insisted his side can compete with the much-fancied French as he prepares to come up against Kylian Mbappe, his colleague at club level.

“Tomorrow we are playing one of the favourites but we have shown we can compete and that is why we are here. I have full faith and full confidence in the team.”