Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi questioned the preparation for Kylian Mbappé’s crucial goal after his team’s 2-0 lead. FIFA World Cup The final defeat to France, insisting “it was handball” while expressing confusion as to why the incident was not reviewed by VAR.The controversy was evident in the sequence leading up to Mbappé’s goal, with several Moroccan players stopping play believing France had handled the ball in preparation.Speaking after Morocco’s World Cup campaign ended, Ouahbi admitted he did not know whether the incident would have resulted in a free-kick, but said the handball was evident.“Some players stopped because there was a handball. And of course there was a handball!” Ouahbi told reporters. “I don’t know if it should have been called or not; I don’t know… in the end, it was Kylian Mbappé’s effort that led to the goal.”
Why didn’t VAR intervene
Although Morocco protested, forensic expert Juan Guzmán explained that the authorities were right not to deny the intention.According to Guzmán, the handball was accidental and did not directly or indirectly affect the goal. More importantly, possession had changed hands before Mbappé had contributed, meaning that the attacking unit that produced the goal was seen as different from what had happened before.Under the Laws of the Game, VAR only intervenes in handball attacks where the offense leads to a goal or creates a goal-scoring opportunity. Since those conditions were not met, the goal was allowed to stand.
France deserved to win, admits Ouahbi
Although he was disappointed by the controversial timing, Ouahbi admitted that France were the best team in the tournament.“We are disappointed, but the first part was very difficult,” he said. “The French were very good with the ball. They had a lot of possession, they caused a lot of problems on the flanks with their players, and in the middle.”The Moroccan coach has admitted that his side struggle to create attacking threats whenever they take possession.“When we had the ball, our turnovers weren’t great, so we had to run a little bit, and it ended up being in the comfort zone,” he added.Ouahbi also admitted that France created clear opportunities while Morocco lacked freshness and creativity.“We have to realize that they are a great team. They have very good players and they had the opportunity to score goals. We lacked mentality and freshness,” he said.Despite the World Cup falling out of the hands of France – who also eliminated Morocco in the 2022 semi-finals – Ouahbi believes the Atlas Lions will continue to close the gap between the world’s elite.“Today, France was strong, but we are able to compete and move forward, and maybe finish them in four years,” he said.He finished with a proud and sincere message to his players: “I told my players to keep their heads because we gave everything… but we have to look at the situation. We can’t say that we are happy and proud of our work.
