FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — France did it again against Morocco. world cup.
For the second consecutive tournament, Morocco lost to France 2-0 –This time, it’s the quarterfinals Thursday at Gillette Stadium, four years after losing by the same score in the semifinals.
There were few attacking chances and Morocco only had one shot on goal, which came in the 82nd minute when they were already two goals behind.
It was the same outcome as the tournament in Qatar, where the Atlas Lions became the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Morocco coach Mohamed Ouabi said through an interpreter, “If we continue like this, the future will be bright, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t want to win today.Of course we wanted to win today.” “We did our best to win, but we faced a very difficult opponent. Of course we are disappointed, but we will continue to work hard for the future.”
Atlas Lions’ best chance came when midfielder Azzedine Ounahi fired a shot from the edge of the box, but goalkeeper Mike Menyan made a diving stop to flick the ball away, effectively ending Morocco’s hopes.
“They didn’t have a true forward with speed in the wide areas,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “They couldn’t be a danger to us because we had possession of the ball.”
It’s not that Morocco didn’t push hard at this year’s World Cup. They scouted Ayyoub Bouadi, a talented 18-year-old who had the potential to play for France’s youth teams. He was born in Senlis, an hour north of Paris, and represented France at every age group before switching allegiances.
“We know we represent multiple countries,” Ouabi said. “We represent the people of Morocco and many countries in Asia and Africa. Many people see themselves in this team. We will continue to strive to win titles in the future.”
Morocco’s best chance of the first half came just before the half-time whistle, when Achraf Hakimi sent a free-kick from just outside the box past the right post.
“The first half was very complicated. France were very good on the ball,” Ouabi said. “They caused a lot of problems with the players on the wings and also in the middle. When we had the ball, our transitions weren’t that great so we had to run a little bit more, but in the end they were in their comfort zone.”
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
