Rabat – Morocco assistant coach Joao Sacramento believes the Atlas Lions effectively repeated their historic 2022 FIFA World Cup performance during the 2026 tournament, despite being eliminated one round earlier.
Speaking to Portuguese newspaper Record, Sacramento argued that the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams added an extra knockout round, making a direct comparison based only on the stage reached misleading.
“We managed to repeat Morocco’s 2022 achievement, even though many people do not believe that,” Sacramento said.
“This World Cup had more teams, which automatically meant there was an additional knockout round. In terms of performance, however, we achieved the same number of victories and followed almost the same path.”
Morocco reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup before losing 2-0 to France. Sacramento maintained that under the structure used in Qatar four years earlier, the Atlas Lions’ results would have taken them into the semi-finals for a second consecutive tournament.
“Had the tournament been played under the previous format, we would have reached the semi-finals,” he said. “That means we maintained our level.”
Morocco confirm place among leading teams
Morocco began their 2026 campaign with a 1-1 draw against Brazil before defeating Scotland 1-0 and Haiti 4-2 to finish second in their group with seven points.
The Atlas Lions then eliminated the Netherlands on penalties in the newly introduced round of 32 and recorded a 3-0 victory over co-hosts Canada in the round of 16. France ended their run in the following round.
At the 2022 World Cup, Morocco also recorded three victories in regulation time, defeating Belgium and Canada in the group stage before overcoming Portugal in the quarter-finals. Their round-of-16 match against Spain ended goalless before Morocco advanced through a penalty shootout.
Sacramento said the 2026 campaign was particularly important because Morocco wanted to demonstrate that its historic run in Qatar was not an isolated achievement.
“Morocco was seeking to establish itself permanently among the best national teams, and it succeeded,” he said. “That was something extremely positive within the national team.”
The Portuguese coach also pointed to Morocco’s rise to sixth place in the latest FIFA men’s world ranking, the country’s highest position. Morocco moved above Portugal after reaching the World Cup quarter-finals, while the Portuguese team dropped to seventh following its round-of-16 elimination.
Sacramento attributed that progress to a national football strategy implemented over the past decade under King Mohammed VI.
“What has been achieved is not a coincidence,” Sacramento said. “There is a great deal of strong work behind it.”
Sacramento joined Mohamed Ouahbi’s technical staff as first assistant in March 2026. Ouahbi has since confirmed that the former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain assistant will remain with the national team as Morocco begins preparing for its next major objectives.
