Morocco star Ismael Saibari will miss his team’s World Cup quarter-final showdown with France, coach Mohamed Ouahbi confirmed on Wednesday.
“Everyone is 100 percent fit except Saibari. This game comes too soon for him but I hope he is not out for the rest of the competition,” Ouahbi told reporters ahead of Thursday’s last-eight showdown at the Gillette Stadium near Boston.
Saibari, who has just joined Bayern Munich from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on a five-year deal for a reported fee of 50 million euros ($57 million), has been one of the standout players at the World Cup.
He scored in each of his team’s three group games and converted the winning penalty in the shoot-out as Morocco beat the Netherlands in the last 32.
However, the attacking midfielder came off early on with a hamstring problem in the 3-0 win against Canada in the last 16 last Saturday, and has not recovered.
