Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said he is proud of his team’s performance against Brazil and believes the Atlas Lions can surpass their historic 2022 FIFA World Cup run after opening their 2026 campaign with a 1-1 draw against the five-time champions.
Ouahbi spoke after Morocco produced an impressive display against one of the tournament favourites in a Group C clash that saw Ismael Saibari put the North Africans ahead before Vinícius Júnior levelled for Brazil.
The result earned both teams a point, while Scotland moved top of the group following a 1-0 victory over Haiti.
Morocco began brightly and created several opportunities in the early stages, forcing Brazil onto the back foot.
Their pressure paid off in the 21st minute when Brahim Díaz released Saibari through on goal and the PSV forward chipped the ball over Alisson to open the scoring.
Brazil responded through Vinícius, who cut in from the left and fired into the far corner in the 32nd minute to restore parity.
The second half was less open, with both sides struggling to maintain the tempo of the first period. Morocco nearly snatched victory late on, but Alisson denied Neil El Aynaoui’s long-range effort.
Despite missing out on all three points, Ouahbi said the performance strengthened his belief that Morocco can continue progressing on the world stage.
He said: “I want to go beyond the semi-finals but it was a good match. One is good enough and we’ll improve.”
The coach also expressed confidence in the future of the national team.
He said: “For the future of Moroccan football, we are confident. We drew; we’re happy. I’m not sad. We would have wanted to win, obviously, but I’m not sad.”
Ouahbi praised his players for showing courage and composure against one of world football’s traditional powers.
He said: “What I’m really proud of is that we’re bold enough to play and ask for the ball under pressure. This is a great quality that we have.”
The Morocco coach also acknowledged the support from the team’s fans inside the stadium despite being outnumbered.
He said: “I don’t know if 20% of the crowd were Moroccans, but we could hear them very loudly. If it was only 20%, they fooled me into thinking there were many more of them there.”
Ouahbi added: “I hope they had great fun watching a good match tonight, and I hope this will continue.”
The draw extended Brazil’s unbeaten run in World Cup opening matches to 21 games, but Morocco left the contest with plenty of encouragement ahead of their next group fixture against Scotland.
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