Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi has rejected the idea that one player was to blame after the Atlas Lions were held to a 1-1 draw by Mali on Sunday.
The result brought Morocco’s final match of the international break to a frustrating conclusion at the Grand Stade de Tanger, after they had opened their qualifying campaign for CAN 2027 with victories against Gabon and Lesotho.
Morocco had looked on course to claim another win when Ez Abde put them ahead in the 35th minute. However, Mali levelled 13 minutes from time through Gaoussou Diarra, who scored in the 77th minute to earn the visitors a draw.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Ouahbi refused to single out an individual for the result and instead placed the responsibility on the team as a whole.
The manager had earlier expressed satisfaction with Morocco’s performance during an interview with Arryadia in the mixed zone. He described the match as a useful test against opposition capable of keeping his players’ standards high.
The draw followed Morocco’s opening wins in the CAN 2027 qualifiers. They beat Gabon 2-0 before defeating Lesotho 0-2, but were unable to maintain their winning run in the friendly against Mali.
Ouahbi had previously said he wanted Morocco to face high-level opponents after their positive showing at the 2026 World Cup. A meeting with Ghana had initially been arranged, but that fixture was cancelled and Mali were selected as the replacement opponents.
The match against Mali therefore provided Morocco with the demanding contest Ouahbi had been seeking, even though the hosts surrendered their lead late in the game.