Morocco Women’s national team coach Reynald Pedros has hailed the performance of his players as “exceptional” despite losing 4-0 to France in their 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup round of 16 tie in Adelaide on Tuesday.
The Atlas Lionesses had no answer to Les Bleues as Kadidiatou Diani, Kenza Dali and Eugenie Le Sommer (brace) found the back of the net to progress to the quarter-finals where they will face World Cup co-hosts Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.
It brings an end to Morocco’s maiden Women’s World Cup campaign where they finished ahead of two-time champions Germany in Group H and managed to defeat South Korea and Colombia.
Pedros says his side’s performance mirrors the men’s national team’s performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where they reached the semi-finals, becoming the first African and Arab country to do so.
“For me, what’s important is the fact that we got to the round of 16 and that from Morocco was exceptional,” he stated.
“It’s an adventure that has been absolutely exceptional. We have been together since the 12th of June now, and we’ve been working day in, day out to prepare for this World Cup. I would even say that it was something that was unthinkable to say that Morocco was going to get to the round of 16, to qualify from the group stages. And I actually think and this is sincerely speaking, that coming to the round of 16 with the Moroccan women’s team for the first time in this World Cup.
“This is worth (comparable) to the Moroccan men’s team getting to the semi-final (of the 2022 men’s WC). Let’s not forget that three years ago we were just putting together a women’s team in Morocco. Therefore, let’s not take away what’s happened. Let’s not take away from what we’ve done. Let’s not take away just how worthy these players are. All of the staff that have been working together for a little while now.”
“Yes, it’s a round of 16 at the World Cup. This is the French national team. There were lots of things that came together. That means that even though we’re going home, we can hold our heads up high because we got to the round of 16.”
Despite being the only female African team to reach the Women’s World Cup knockout stage in their debut, Pedros acknowledges Morocco still have a lot to work on as they conceded a total of 10 goals, while scoring just twice.
“…we need to be a little more efficient, both upfront in their box, and in our own box defensively,” he explained.
“I think that all of the goals that we conceded were between the penalty spots and the goal-line, for a keeper. So therefore, we need to be really defensive. We need to have real defenders. There are too many shortcomings in the box and we’re going to work on this. And obviously we’re going to continue to work on our tactics, on our fitness because we need to be a little bit more fit.
“But I said this earlier that I think it’s also a case of we’re going to continue working. We’re hoping to qualify for other big competitions and we’re going to rack up this experience. We’ll be a little less apprehensive if we’re regularly competing in these types of competitions. And I think that things will start to fall into place over the course of time. Thankfully, we do still have things to work on.
“We know that this is only our first World Cup. We’ve already got to the round of 16. So I think that that in itself speaks volumes. We’re going to have a look at everything. We’ll analyse what we have to do. We’re going to work hard.”
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— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) August 8, 2023
Morocco’s exit means there is no African representative left at the Women’s World Cup with Banyana Banyana of South Africa and Super Falcons of Nigeria also exiting in the Round of 16 while the Copper Queens of Zambia went out in the group phase.
