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World Cup: Morocco suffer major setback as Saibari ruled out of France quarter-final clash
09th July, 2026 12:32 PM
Morocco have been dealt a significant blow ahead of their FIFA World Cup quarterfinal against France on Thursday, July 9, 2026, after influential attacker Ismael Saibari was declared unavailable because of injury.
The 24-year-old picked up a hamstring problem during Morocco’s Round of 16 victory over Canada and has failed to recover in time for Thursday’s clash in Boston, head coach Mohamed Ouahbi confirmed.
Speaking before the match, Ouahbi revealed that Saibari is the only member of his squad unavailable.
“Everyone is 100 per cent fit except Saibari. This game comes too soon for him, but I hope he is not out for the rest of the competition,” the tactician said.
Saibari has enjoyed an outstanding World Cup campaign, emerging as one of Morocco’s key performers. The attacking midfielder recently completed a reported €50 million (Ksh10.09 billion) move from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven to Bayern Munich on a five-year contract.
Saibari’s form
He found the net in all three group-stage fixtures and also calmly converted the decisive penalty in Morocco’s shootout victory over the Netherlands in the Round of 32.
However, his tournament was interrupted after he was forced off early during Morocco’s 3-0 win over Canada last Saturday because of the hamstring injury.
Despite missing the quarterfinal, Ouahbi remains hopeful the midfielder could return if Morocco reach the last four.
“He’s not ready, but I hope it’s not the end of the tournament for him.”
Saibari’s replacement against Canada, striker Soufiane Rahimi, made an immediate impact by scoring Morocco’s third goal after coming off the bench.
The Atlas Lions head into the France encounter eager to gain revenge for the 2-0 semifinal defeat they suffered against the same opponents at the 2022 World Cup.
That memorable run in Qatar saw Morocco become the first African and Arab nation to reach a World Cup semifinal, and they now have the opportunity to equal that achievement.
Ouahbi rejected the idea that reaching the last eight should already be viewed as enough.
“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.”
He added:
“Tomorrow, we will try to get to the semifinals. I don’t like this sentiment that we have already done well and anything else is a bonus.”
The coach, who replaced Walid Regragui in March, said he had watched Morocco’s 2022 semifinal defeat to France as a supporter from home.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid playmaker Brahim Diaz expressed confidence that Morocco can challenge one of the tournament favourites despite France’s star-studded squad led by his club teammate Kylian Mbappe.
“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.” He added.
