FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Morocco will be without star forward Ismael Saibari for their World Cup quarterfinal with France on Thursday, head coach Mohamed Ouahbi said.
Saibari was replaced in some discomfort 22 minutes into Morocco's 3-0 round-of-16 victory over Canada in Houston on Saturday, and has undergone medical tests and analysis over the last few days to determine the extent of his hamstring injury.
- FIFA rejects France's appeal of Olise's yellow card
- Deschamps unfazed by Argentinian refs in WCup QF
- The 8 most important players of the World Cup quarterfinals
An MRI undertaken on Monday after the team's arrival in Boston, appears to have shown that the strain is not too severe to keep him out of the entire competition.
"Everyone's available, except Saibari, with the match coming too early for him," Ouahbi told reporters in Wednesday's pre-match news conference, "although he's not out for the rest of the tournament, I hope.
"Everyone's available, although we of course will only select the players who are at 100%."
Saibari has been Morocco's outstanding player in the World Cup so far, scoring the opener against Brazil, the winner against Scotland and the equalizer against Haiti during a productive group stage.
Against Netherlands, the 25-year-old scored the decisive penalty in the round-of-32 shootout victory, with the winning effort particularly meaningful given he's spent the entirety of his career to date in the Dutch top flight with PSV Eindhoven.
He secured a €50 million ($57m) move to Bayern Munich on July 1, following several weeks of transfer speculation, becoming the second most expensive Moroccan footballer of all time after Achraf Hakimi.
Soufiane Rahimi came off the bench to replace Saibari against Canada, and is favorite to lead the line for Morocco against France, although Ouahbi is counting on the strength of his squad to get past the tournament favorites.
"When you want to go very far in a competition, you need everybody, and the players who cannot be in the starting 11 know that they have the opportunity to finish the match," he added. "We have starters, and then when others are subbed in, they can make a difference on the pitch for us.
"The is a positive for the group, and it's something that gives us a lot of confidence."
Ouahbi's comments appear to be good news for Crystal Palace's Chadi Riad, who started the tournament as first-choice center back following Nayef Aguerd's late omission from the squad, and had begun to forge a promising partnership with Issa Diop.
He missed the Canada game due to an undisclosed injury, with Redouane Halhal looking unconvincing as his stand-in, but now appears primed to return to action for the France clash.
Morocco are facing France for the first time since being defeated by Les Bleus in the 2022 semifinal in Qatar, the first time an African side had ever reached the last four of the World Cup.