{"id":38426,"date":"2026-06-30T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T11:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=38426"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T11:29:00","slug":"morocco-earned-worlds-respect-after-beating-dutch-ouahbi","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/morocco-earned-worlds-respect-after-beating-dutch-ouahbi\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco earned world\u2019s respect after beating Dutch: Ouahbi"},"content":{"rendered":"
Morocco Coach Mohamed Ouahbi says his side has earned respect after knocking the Netherlands out of the World Cup in a penalty shootout on Monday, adding that his players were fuelled by the desire to make the millions watching back home proud.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Morocco beat the Dutch 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the last 16, where they will face co-hosts Canada.<\/div>\n
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Ismael Saibari converted the winning spot kick after goalkeeper Yassine Bounou had saved Crysencio Summerville\u2019s attempt.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMorocco has gained everybody\u2019s respect now,\u201d Ouahbi told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s not because of what we\u2019ve said. We\u2019ve now shown it.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The coach, who stepped up from Morocco\u2019s under-20 setup after helping guide the country\u2019s youth teams to success, said his players were driven by something greater than football.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis team, and all the Moroccan youth teams, are fighting for much, much more than just football or simply winning a match,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThey know that behind them there are millions and millions of people. We played when it was two in the morning in Morocco, and we\u2019re certain that most people stayed awake. That gives you the energy not to give up, to keep going and to believe in yourself.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Ouahbi said Morocco had dominated the match despite needing penalties to progress.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe completely dominated a Netherlands team,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe had 70% possession, more shots and more expected goals. We controlled the match,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe wanted to stay calm, play our game and believe that if it went to penalties, we had an exceptional goalkeeper. We didn\u2019t turn the match into a chaotic battle. We controlled it.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Ouahbi said the Netherlands\u2019 defensive approach came as a surprise but viewed it as recognition of Morocco\u2019s growing stature.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI really didn\u2019t expect this kind of low block because the Netherlands like to have the ball and are very strong when they do,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw this type of play as a form of respect.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The 49-year-old felt Morocco\u2019s run to the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar had changed the country\u2019s mentality.<\/div>\n
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\u201cFor the past few years, Moroccan players believe in themselves, and the supporters believe in us as well,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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Ouahbi cautioned that Canada would provide another stern test in the last 16 but said Morocco would approach the knockout tie full of belief.<\/div>\n
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\u201cNobody can stop us if we play the football we know how to play,\u201d he said. \u201cBut nobody is unbeatable. If we get things wrong, we\u2019ll go home.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13039,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-38426","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Morocco beat the Dutch 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the last 16, where they will face co-hosts Canada.","published_date":"","news_description":"Morocco beat the Dutch 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the last 16, where they will face co-hosts Canada.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38427,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38426\/revisions\/38427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}