Morocco will be without Ismael Saibari for their World Cup quarterfinal against France on Thursday, head coach Mohamed Ouahbi confirmed at a pre-match news conference on Wednesday, with the forward’s hamstring injury sustained in the round-of-16 victory over Canada ruling him out of what will be a rematch of one of the 2022 World Cup’s most historic matches.
Saibari left the Canada game in the 22nd minute after showing signs of discomfort, and subsequent medical examination including an MRI conducted on Monday in Boston indicated the strain was not severe enough to end his tournament entirely. He is expected to be available for potential later rounds, but the France match comes too soon for him to be fit for selection.
What Morocco loses with Saibari absent
The timing of the injury is acutely difficult for Morocco given what Saibari produced in the tournament before it occurred. He was the most influential individual performer in the squad through the group stage, scoring the opening goal against one of the tournament’s heavyweight nations, the winning goal in another group match, and an equalizer in a third. His contributions gave Morocco the momentum that carried them into the knockout stage with confidence.
His impact continued in the round of 32, where he converted the decisive penalty in a shootout victory against the Netherlands, a moment that carried personal resonance given that his entire professional club career to date has been spent in Dutch football with PSV Eindhoven. That performance came just weeks before a transfer to Bayern Munich on a fee of approximately 50 million euros, making him the second most expensive Moroccan footballer in history after the country’s most famous current international player.
Replacing that level of production without the player who has been generating it is the central challenge facing Ouahbi and his coaching staff heading into Thursday.
Who steps in and how Morocco will cope
The coach indicated that the entire squad apart from Saibari is available for selection, though he specified that only those who are at full fitness will be chosen. The player who replaced Saibari against Canada is considered the frontrunner to lead the line from the start against France, giving Morocco a like-for-like replacement in terms of positional role if not in terms of the form Saibari had been carrying.
Ouahbi framed the absence as a squad-depth challenge rather than a crisis, emphasizing that reaching the final stages of a World Cup requires contributions from across the roster and that players entering as substitutes carry the same responsibility to affect matches as those who start. His composure in discussing the situation appeared deliberate, designed to communicate confidence in the group without minimizing the significance of losing their most productive individual.
Defensive reinforcement may also be available. A center-back who had been first choice before missing the Canada match with an undisclosed injury appears primed to return, which would strengthen a back line that was less convincing in his absence.
The history and what is at stake
Morocco and France last met at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, a semifinal that France won and that represented the deepest run in history by an African national team. Morocco’s progression to that stage electrified the continent and generated goodwill that extended well beyond football. A quarterfinal against France at this tournament carries the same emotional and historical weight, with Morocco seeking to go further than they did in 2022.
France enters as the tournament’s clear favorite, and Saibari’s absence removes one of the most credible individual threats Morocco possessed heading into the match.
