FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Morocco wonderkid Ayyoub Bouaddi has no regrets about choosing to represent the Atlas Lions at senior level ahead of France, despite Les Bleus' 2-0 victory in Thursday's World Cup quarterfinal.
Goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé took France past the North Africans in a rematch of the 2022 semifinal, and they will now advance to a Final Four showdown with Spain or Belgium.
Bouaddi has been one of the breakout stars of the World Cup, having committed his international future to Morocco in May, after representing France at youth level and even captaining the U-21s as recently as March.
Despite Thursday's loss, he insists that he's completely confident in his decision to commit his international future to the Atlas Lions, rather than the land of his birth.
"There's absolutely no regret at having chosen Morocco," Bouaddi said after the loss against France. "I always said that it was a choice from the heart, and I'm very proud to represent Morocco, regardless of what happens.
"The most important thing now is that we know -- the players, the staff, everyone -- that whatever happens, we'll always give everything for the shirt.
"We're proud, although we'd hoped to make as proud as possible the Moroccan people. For the future competitions, we'll know what we still have to improve to go as far as possible.
"We'll keep working and improving what we do."
The 18-year-old Lille midfielder, who was born and raised in northern France, has been one of the revelations of the World Cup, excelling in his competitive debut for Morocco against Brazil en route to establishing himself as one of the first names on the team sheet.
One of the talking points ahead of the match was whether France would regret not having secured Bouaddi's long-term future, although he struggled to impose himself in Boston as Didier Deschamps' side ran out comfortable winners.
"Going into the match, we knew we were up against a very good France team," Bouaddi added. "We knew it was going to be a difficult game that would demand a huge amount of effort from us.
"I think we gave everything we had, we gave 100 percent, but that's football, you can't always win.
"I think this match will help us grow. It will show us what we need to take into the next competitions and the areas we still need to improve. It's those small details that we have to work on if we want to go even further."
Despite the disappointment, Morocco can take some encouragement from the fact that they have become the first ever African team to reach consecutive World Cup quarterfinals - and the only nation to reach the Last Eight in two separate tournaments - although it's France who the first semifinal on July 14 in Arlington.
