National team. So close to happiness (CAN 2025)

Sunday, January 18, 2026, was meant to be a dream. Instead, it will remain etched in our memories — filed under nightmares.

It must be said that, emotionally, we were not caught off guard. Since 2004, we have known the difference between losers and winners in a final — the gap between players and heroes. Between a deep collective pride, hard to wrest from defeat, and the choice to be content with everything else.

The highest continental peak reached by the national team in more than twenty years thus merged with the deepest of disappointments.

This is the second final lost by the Lions of the Atlas, after the 2004 AFCON. A new setback that ushers in an era of nuance.

It is the best result for a Moroccan side in a home AFCON final tournament, after the semi-final elimination against Cameroon in 1988. And reaching the final is a fine achievement. But it was a bitter way to lose.

In reality, the national team players have little to regret. Their coach, Walid Regragui, probably has more to answer for.

The national team left great memories

It is true that the national team’s journey shows clear progress compared to the last edition, and to that of 1988.

The national team went beyond the round of 16 and carried the pressure of host-nation status all the way to the end — a burden Cameroon had lifted from them back in 1988.

They came through the tricky round of 16 against Tanzania unscathed. They overcame a vengeful Cameroon. They knocked out Nigeria, one of the tournament favorites. In short, they left lasting memories.

But they lacked a bit of freshness, a touch of luck, and above all, the serenity needed in the final minutes of the match.

Especially at the moment when Brahim Diaz thought more about the impact of winning AFCON with a panenka than about simply securing victory.

Let’s not fool ourselves: in situations where selfishness outweighs the collective interest, optimism counts for little.

But it is evident that Moroccan football has a future as bright as the recent past of its different categories.

And this, even if the value of this run remains below that of 2004, when talent and popular support were far less.

During this AFCON, the national team seldom lived up to expectations on the pitch. Yet they still occupy a distinguished place in Moroccan football history.

Walid Regragui does not come out strengthened from this AFCON

Reaching the final despite so many flaws reveals a profound merit and a genuine collective effort.

The question remains whether this result is enough to keep Walid Regragui in charge. History shows that winning a final grants impunity — but does losing invite reproach?

The coach weathered violent storms in the build‑up to the competition, fewer during its course. Yet he emerges from this AFCON no stronger than before.

Had victory come, his mandate would have continued serenely, at least until the 2026 World Cup in North America (United States, Canada, Mexico). But victory never came.

The wins over Cameroon — and above all Nigeria — bolstered the belief that Walid Regragui had both direction and method.

An impression likely overstated, given his constant contradictions and the instability of his game plan.

How can one explain, for example, that apart from Ayoub El Kaabi, no center‑forward scored during the competition?

This strength from the bench was arguably what Morocco lacked most in this AFCON — as much as coherence.

The question arises as to why the Moroccan coach, ever since the round‑of‑16 elimination in the previous edition, worked to build a possession‑based team — only to abandon that approach from the quarter‑finals of the 2025 AFCON.

Indeed, from the match against Tanzania onward, Morocco consistently had less possession than their opponents.

A squad of 26, far from its best

Difficult, under such conditions, to harness the extraordinary offensive talent this team possesses — more than any previous generation.

And above all, how to reconcile the coach’s satisfaction with his bench, when he fielded the same starting eleven from the round of 16 to the final, across four matches in less than two weeks?

The final revived a regret voiced even before the competition began: the call‑up of several injured or out‑of‑form players at the expense of others, perhaps less dazzling but far more competitive.

It would be unfair to deny Walid Regragui his ability to build a team — in clubs as well as with the national side.

Yet too often, that collective strength is built on the altar of individual brilliance, rather than on the chemistry among all the talents that compose it.

In any event, the generation of Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Diaz will face Brazil in six months, in the opening match of Group C at the 2026 World Cup. They will strive to ensure that the feat of 2022 does not fade into a mere memory.

There is no doubt that, from the March friendlies, the Atlas Lions will reunite with joy. They will remember that the adventure of this AFCON was not, after all, so catastrophic.

Above all, because of their ability to unite and to foster an atmosphere charged with hope and ambition — an atmosphere in which the belief that anything was possible truly took root.

An organization with little room for improvisation

The organization and the surge of popular enthusiasm left a lasting impression. Though not every one of the 51 matches was played in a full stadium, the vast majority were.

Fan zones brimmed with supporters, and despite occasional setbacks, the quality of the base camps and pitches helped sustain the festive spirit of the competition.

Improvisation was almost absent — save for a final that resembled a parachute jump more than an emotional rollercoaster.

The events that marked the most important match of Africa’s biggest competition will leave a lasting imprint on collective memory. They will also fuel the discourse of those who argue it was not the greatest edition in history.

But the financial and human investments, together with the warm welcome of the Moroccan people, confirmed instead that the Kingdom is a football nation — endowed with the expertise and the assets needed to host the 2030 World Cup in four years’ time.

Meanwhile, we would have loved the celebration to last until dawn. Yet to live the final day of such a competition as a day of grandeur will remain, all the same, a privilege.