Morocco Coach: Winning the World Cup Won’t Pressure Rekraki or His Players in Africa

Mohamed Wahbi, coach of Morocco’s under-20 national team, confirmed that winning the World Cup had been his goal from the start and was not a surprise for him. He emphasized that this achievement would not increase pressure on the senior national team or its coach but would rather motivate them to win the Africa Cup of Nations, which the “Atlas Lions” last won in 1976.
Under Wahbi’s leadership, Morocco’s U-20 team won the FIFA U-20 World Cup, becoming the first Arab team to achieve this feat. They also received the Best African Team award at the CAF Awards ceremony held on Wednesday in Rabat.
In a special interview with “Al Arabiya.net,” Wahbi said about the World Cup victory: “It was a full journey and project we started two and a half years ago with this generation. From the first match to the last, we felt all the effort, all the work we put in, and everything we built to reach the World Cup and perform strongly.”
He added: “We always told the players that everything we do before the World Cup aims to reach it in the best condition and to try to win the title. That was the goal we repeated among ourselves. It was like going through stages we had prepared for. At no moment did we feel out of place; we felt ready for everything, and it all felt natural for us.”
Regarding the toughest match of the tournament, he said: “Of course, the final against Argentina for several reasons. You’re playing a World Cup final for the first time in history for an Arab team, which is incredible. Argentina has six World Cup titles and players who have won before. And then there’s Messi and Maradona.”
He continued: “The way we played that match, we prepared ourselves to stay calm and manage our emotions because Moroccans and Arabs tend to react quickly—losing patience when things go wrong or even when they go well, thinking everything is guaranteed, feeling overconfident. We had to control our emotions, but the Argentinians lost their focus instead.”