Walid Ouahbi Reflects on France’s Opener and Morocco’s Response

Walid Ouahbi walked off the pitch still replaying France’s opener in his mind. The Moroccan coach could accept losing to a side of that calibre. What he struggled to accept was the way the first goal stood.

The flashpoint came early. A loose ball, bodies converging, a touch from Adrien Rabiot that Ouahbi was adamant involved an active hand, and then Kylian Mbappé pouncing to lash the ball past Yassine Bounou. Morocco’s defenders hesitated for a heartbeat, arms half-raised, waiting for the whistle that never came.

After the match, speaking to beIN Sports, Ouahbi did not hide his frustration with referee Facundo Tello’s decision to let the goal stand. In his view, the move should never have reached Mbappé.

“The goal came from a bit of a… shared ball, some people stopped because they saw a handball,” he said, underlining the confusion in that split second. “It was a handball, I don’t know if it should have been called or not, I don’t know.”

The sense of grievance was real, but it did not spill over into excuses. Once he had made his point, Ouahbi quickly turned the spotlight on France’s quality and his own team’s response.

“We have to admit that we played against a very good team,” the 49-year-old said, acknowledging the gulf Morocco had to bridge in the opening period. His side were stretched, forced deep, and reliant on their goalkeeper. “We suffered a lot in the first half, and Bounou made a great save on the penalty.”

That save kept Morocco alive. It also gave them something to build on. After the break, the change was obvious: the back line stepped a little higher, the midfield finally put a foot on the ball, and the panic that had marked the early exchanges began to fade.

“In the second half, we defended better and, above all, we were more composed with the ball. We were much better,” Ouahbi said. The same players who had been gasping for air before half-time suddenly looked sharper, more assured. “In the first half, it seemed like some players were catching their breath. We saw that these same players started the second half well.”

The closing stages were a test of nerve as much as legs. Morocco pushed, France threatened on the counter, and every clearance felt like it carried the weight of a tournament. The equaliser never came.

“It was tough at the end,” Ouahbi admitted. The disappointment was written across his face, but so was a stubborn refusal to let this be a ceiling. “I believe we must continue to believe, to work. We must also continue to work on the basics, ensuring that when there are injuries, players who are less fresh, we can have a larger pool of players.”

That is where his gaze has already shifted: depth, resilience, the next wave. The message to his squad was clear. This is not the end point.

“We will continue, we will not stop here. We are very disappointed, we wanted more, but we have to accept it.”

The anger over that first goal will linger for a while. The real question is what Morocco do with it.