Morocco's Saibari to Miss World Cup Quarter-Final Against France Due to Injury

Morocco's World Cup campaign has suffered a blow with the confirmation that star player Ismael Saibari will miss their quarter-final clash against France. Coach Mohamed Ouahbi announced on Wednesday that Saibari is still recovering from a hamstring injury sustained during the team's last 16 victory.

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Everyone is 100 percent fit except Saibari. This game comes too soon for him but I hope he is not out for the rest of the competition.

Saibari, who recently completed a reported 50 million euro ($57 million) move to Bayern Munich from PSV Eindhoven, has been instrumental for Morocco. He scored in every group stage match and netted the decisive penalty in their shootout win against the Netherlands. However, he was forced off early in the 3-0 win over Canada in the previous round, and has not recovered in time for the match against France.

Despite Saibari's absence, Coach Ouahbi emphasized the team's ambition to win the upcoming match. He rejected suggestions that reaching the quarter-finals, a historic achievement for an African or Arab nation in the 2022 World Cup, should be considered sufficient success. "We absolutely want to win the game tomorrow," Ouahbi stated, stressing that the team aims to advance to the semi-finals.

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We absolutely want to win the game tomorrow, so we will not listen to people who say it doesn’t matter if we go out now.

Morocco's Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz echoed the coach's confidence, expressing belief in the team's ability to compete against tournament favorites France. Diaz, who will face his Real Madrid teammate Kylian Mbappe, stated, "Tomorrow we are playing one of the favourites but we have shown we can compete and that is why we are here. I have full faith and full confidence in the team."

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Tomorrow we are playing one of the favourites but we have shown we can compete and that is why we are here. I have full faith and full confidence in the team.