The 30-year-old will be forced to step in after Ismael Saibari suffered an injury against Canada.
Morocco’s World Cup hopes took a big dent on Saturday after Ismael Saibari exited with an injury. The 25-year-old forward pulled up holding his hamstring after just 22 minutes and was subbed off for Soufiane Rahimi. The Atlas Lions held on for the 3-0 win over Canada, but face a daunting task in France next. Morocco will likely take on the favorites without their leading scorer.
His replacement, Soufiane Rahimi, is not a player that many fans outside of Africa will recognize. Unlike Saibari, who recently completed a massive move to Bayern Munich, Rahimi has spent his entire career outside traditionally elite leagues. The 30-year-old came through the Raja Casablanca academy in Morocco, spending four seasons with the first team before moving to Al Ain in August 2021.
For the past five seasons, Rahimi has played for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, putting up strong numbers. During that time, he has often featured in the Atlas Lions’ squad, although he did miss out on the team’s historic World Cup side in 2022. Rahimi was part of the controversial AFCON-winning side from January 2026. However, he played a limited role as he was an unused sub in the semi-finals and final.
This summer, Rahimi’s role has grown in a big way. New coach Mohamed Ouahbi made the surprising decision to leave Youssef En-Nesyri out of the World Cup squad after an underwhelming season. En-Nesyri was a crucial part of Morocco’s 2022 team, but has struggled for consistency since leaving Sevilla FC. Lille striker Hamza Igamane suffered a major injury, too, resulting in his absence from the squad.
From the start, Rahimi has been one of the main options off the bench for Ouahbi this summer. He was Morocco’s final substitute in a 1-1 draw with Brazil, and returned the following week in a win over Scotland. In Morocco’s final match, Rahimi got his biggest chance yet, playing 20 minutes off the bench against Haiti. He scored the eventual winner and assisted the clinching goal in a big 4-2 win.
He nearly went from hero to villain in his Round of 32 cameo against the Netherlands. In the 97th minute, the striker took a fantastic touch to get around Teun Koopmeiners, but failed to place his shot and was denied by Bart Verbruggen. The game stayed level at 1-1 and went to penalties.
Rahimi’s luck nearly got worse, too. His penalty was nearly saved in the shoot-out as Verbruggen guessed correctly. Somehow, though, it deflected off the Dutch keeper’s trailing leg and into the net. That proved to be vital as Saibari scored his penalty to give Morocco the narrow shoot-out win.
Fortunately for Morocco, he’s bounced back, and, in Saibari’s absence, Rahimi has already stepped up. Granted, Morocco already had a 2-0 lead over Canada when the striker slid the ball past Maxime Crépeau in the 98th minute, but the goal capped off a strong performance and showed how dangerous the Atlas Lions can be.
Rahimi has shown what he can do in flashes, but he now faces the biggest task of his career against a strong France side. Aside from his goalscoring, Saibari would have been the preferred option because of his height and physicality against a strong France defense led by Dayot Upamecano. Rahimi is shorter, although he is still the tallest of Morocco’s expected front three at 5’11”. Suffice to say, winning the ball in the air will be tricky.
Saibari will be missed in more ways than one. He has been phenomenal throughout the World Cup, whether on or off the ball. It is thanks to his three goals that Morocco reached the knockouts, and he has been one of the stars of the tournament. Beyond that, he’s shown incredible character — against the Netherlands, he swapped his jersey because it was covered in blood. He returned to take the game-winning penalty. Rahimi undoubtedly has big shoes to fill.
It remains to be seen how long Saibari is sidelined and if he can return in time for the tournament’s remaining games. However, it will not matter if Morocco fails to beat France in the next round. This World Cup has already seen its fair share of unlikely heroes. Rahimi will be hoping he can add himself to the list on Thursday.
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Image via TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (Facebook.com).
