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Morocco will be without key player Ismael Saibari as they try to avenge their defeat by France in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
Saibari scored in each of his side’s group games, with goals in a 1-1 draw with Brazil, 1-0 win against Scotland and 4-2 victory against Haiti.
The 25-year-old, who has moved from PSV Eindhoven to Bayern Munich this summer, also converted the winning penalty against the Netherlands in their last-32 tie.
However, Saibari was forced to come off after 22 minutes with a hamstring issue during Morocco’s 3-0 win against co-hosts Canada in the last 16.
“He’s not ready but I hope it’s not the end of the tournament for him,” said Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi (via BBC Sport).
Meanwhile, France have failed in their bid to have Michael Olise’s yellow card from their win against Paraguay overturned.
The Bayern Munich winger was booked after clashing with Matias Galarza in stoppage time during France’s 1-0 victory in a fiery last-16 match in Philadelphia.
Galarza fell to the ground after Olise grabbed his shirt during the altercation.
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Olise, who has five assists at the 2026 World Cup, would miss his country’s semi-final against Spain or Belgium if France manage to beat Morocco in their quarter-final on Thursday (21:00 BST) and he receives another yellow card.
“The yellow card has not changed. We were notified by Fifa this morning, it has been maintained,” said France manager Didier Deschamps on Wednesday prior to the game at Boston Stadium.
Olise’s bookings stands, despite Fifa suspending a red card for United States striker Folarin Balogun at the tournament which meant the striker was available for a last-16 tie against Belgium.
Balogun was sent-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina but controversially played in the 4-1 defeat with US president Donald Trump admitting he asked Fifa to review the decision.
Bradley Barcola and Manu Kone were also booked for France against Paraguay, who did not receive any yellow cards from referee Ilgiz Tantashev during the match.
3 Comments
I stopped being a fan of this moroco team since the last w/c when they came up with the arab nation narrative instead of the one africa movement….
Now they are out again, this time through their sport minister who is claiming they are representing morroco and not africa….
I pray france beat and embarrass them later today…
The winner between France and Spain in the semi-final shall win the world cup.
Meanwhile,Argentina could stroll to the final without having to play against any super power country.Though I doubt they’ll defeat England in the semi’s.The current Argentina team is not as good as the one that won it in Qatar 4yrs ago.
They have been riding their luck,but luck can only take you so far!
You nailed it