Morocco’s Assistant Coach Amzine Prepares Atlas Lions for World Cup Challenge

Gharib Amzine has been in his role as assistant coach of the Moroccan national team for already two months. The former Moroccan player who played in the 1998 World Cup in France with Morocco, has spent this time "analyzing the videos of our players, our opponents." "I’m finding my bearings. It’s a bit the same role as in Troyes in the first team... We joined Qatar on Sunday with most of the players, the last ones joined us on site. I can’t wait for the competition to start," he said in an interview with Est éclair.

The assistant coach notes an "enormous popular enthusiasm" and "a strong expectation" for this World Cup. "In Rabat, with the family, in the streets, it’s all about football! We feel this popular pressure [...] because we have a team with a lot of potential. Everyone is waiting for us to show it on the field collectively. When I was a player, we felt this pressure, but not as much as today, now that I’m on the staff," explains Gharib Amzine, specifying that the list of players was decided "collectively" by a "united" staff.

El Khanouss, a big surprise in this list? The assistant coach does not think so. "We’ve been following him for a long time, he was selected with the U23s. He’s a player with a lot of potential," he points out, adding that Morocco’s objective in this World Cup is to "get through this first round" to "make the public proud." "We know the task will be arduous, but I want to say that it will also be for Belgium, Croatia and Canada. We are outsiders, it’s up to us to make sure we can shine collectively," Amzine said.

On the player side, he says he feels "a very united group, a state of mind has been created, the players adhere to our principles. We have the qualities of North African teams, with a lot of technique, endurance. But what we need to do is manage to make them play together, when we have very little time." But beyond this World Cup, another "real" objective is looming on the horizon, that of "making a great performance at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations which will take place in January 2024 in Côte d’Ivoire," announces Azmine, who promises to "come back to live in Troyes" where he spent more than 14 years of his life.