Ouahbi says Morocco ‘no longer a surprise’, hits back at Marsch’s ‘better team’ comments

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Mohamed Ouahbi proudly declared that Morocco can no longer be considered a surprise package after they reached the World Cup quarter-finals, while questioning Jesse Marsch’s claim that Canada were the “better team” in Saturday’s last-16 tie.

Morocco were under pressure for long periods against the co-hosts in Houston, but a tremendous display of finishing saw them pull clear in the second half.

Azzedine Ounahi scored two outstanding goals – an edge-of-the-box drive from a free-kick routine and a thunderous finish into the top-right corner – before Soufiane Rahimi capped off their 3-0 win with a late effort on the counter.

The only blot on Morocco’s victory was an apparent hamstring issue sustained by star striker Ismael Saibari, who hobbled off to be replaced by Rahimi in the 22nd minute. 

Having reached the semi-finals in Qatar four years ago, Morocco are the first African nation to ever reach the last eight at back-to-back editions of the World Cup.

The four World Cup knockout ties they have progressed from, meanwhile, are as many as all other African teams combined, and Ouahbi believes they are now a major force.

“We’re no longer a surprise today, and that’s a great source of pride,” he said. “I think this is only the beginning and I hope we’ll keep producing this kind of run for many years.”

Much of the post-match discussion centred on comments made by Marsch, who said Canada – who were again without star man Alphonso Davies – were “the better team.”

He also insisted that, “as good as Morocco are, I’d rather be us than them.”

Canada had twice as many shots as Morocco (10 to five) while narrowly edging the expected goals (xG) battle by 0.84 to 0.82, but Ouahbi still felt that assessment was false.

“They were good, but it takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-0,” he replied, when asked about Marsch’s comments. 

“There was only one save from [Yassine] Bounou. In the second half, Canada were good, but they lacked efficiency. Then we created chances through the middle.

“As I always tell the players, we are playing in the World Cup, so we will go through difficult moments. It is not normal to play every match comfortably.

“When we are not at our best, we must stay united. In those moments, we remember who we are playing for, and that is exactly what the players showed during the match.”

Morocco will now face tournament favourites France for a semi-final spot.

According to the Opta supercomputer, the Atlas Lions have a 25.1% chance of upsetting Les Bleus on Thursday, and a 3.9% probability of winning the World Cup.

Two-goal midfielder Ounahi, meanwhile, was delighted with the mentality shown by his team-mates, saying: “The team’s response was one of great strength and character.  

“We faced many problems, even off the pitch, and there were a lot of difficulties. They tried to put obstacles in our way, but we stayed focused. At half-time, we tried to fix a few things and, thank God, we managed to solve them.”

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