Before the FIFA World Cup 2026 began, Morocco’s head coach, Mohamed Ouahbi, was asked about his ambitions for the national team. His answer was bold, direct and almost provocative:“We can win the World Cup.”Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listWhen I first heard those words, I thought he could have chosen them more carefully.It is widely understood in football that every coach wants his players to believe, but World Cups have a habit of punishing bold predictions. I wondered whether those words would eventually come back to haunt Ouahbi with a difficult group lineup and an unforgiving knockout path ahead.Three group stage fixtures and two knockout matches later, I find myself not only repeating the same bold statement, but making a bolder one: Morocco can win the World Cup and could dominate world football for years to come.Post-Qatar 2022 dreamingFootball occasionally rewards dreamers with shock tournament outcomes: Croatia’s run all the way to the Russia 2018 World Cup final was one such example, as was my home nation of Morocco’s unexpected progression all the way to the semifinals of Qatar 2022.The latter result not only stoked a nation’s dream of one day becoming the first African and Arab world football champions but also substantially raised expectations inside the country that Morocco could go all the way in 2026.With the World Cup in the United States about to enter the quarterfinal stage, my conviction of a Morocco triumph is simple: this team has already demonstrated at this tournament …
