Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi questioned the build-up to Kylian Mbappé’s crucial goal after his side’s 2-0 FIFA World Cup quarter-final defeat to France, insisting there “definitely was a handball” while expressing confusion over why the incident was not reviewed by VAR.The controversy emerged during the sequence that led to Mbappé’s goal, with several Moroccan players stopping play believing France had handled the ball in the build-up.Speaking after Morocco’s World Cup campaign came to an end, Ouahbi admitted he was unsure whether the incident should have resulted in a free-kick but maintained that the handball itself was evident.“Some players stopped because there was a handball. And there definitely was a handball!” Ouahbi told reporters. “I don’t know whether it should have been called or not; I have no idea… in the end, it was an individual effort from Kylian Mbappé that led to the goal.”
Why VAR did not intervene
Despite Morocco’s protests, refereeing analyst Juan Guzmán explained that the officials were correct not to disallow the goal.According to Guzmán, the handball was incidental and did not have a direct or immediate impact on the goal. More importantly, possession changed hands before Mbappé’s decisive contribution, meaning the attacking phase that produced the goal was considered separate from the earlier incident.Under the Laws of the Game, VAR only intervenes in attacking handball situations when the offence directly leads to a goal or creates an immediate goalscoring opportunity. Since those conditions were not met, the goal was allowed to stand.
France deserved the win, admits Ouahbi
While disappointed by the controversial moment, Ouahbi acknowledged that France were the better team over the course of the match.“We are disappointed but the first half 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 also in the centre.”The Morocco coach admitted his team struggled to launch effective counter-attacks whenever they regained possession.“When we had the ball, our transitions were not so great, so we needed to run a bit more, and they ended up being in a comfort zone,” he added.Ouahbi also conceded that France created the clearer chances while Morocco lacked freshness and creativity.“We have to recognise that they’re a great team. They have excellent players and had better goal-scoring opportunities. We lacked ideas and freshness,” he said.Despite another World Cup exit at the hands of France — who also eliminated Morocco in the 2022 semi-finals — Ouahbi believes the Atlas Lions continue to close the gap on the world’s elite.“Today, France was stronger, but we are able to compete and to progress even further, and maybe to eliminate them four years down the line,” he said.He ended with a message of pride and realism for his players: “I told my players to keep their heads high because we gave our all… but we need to take stock of the situation. We cannot just say that we’re happy and proud of our performance. We need to move forward, and in order to do so, we have to be objective and do some self-criticism.”
