Morocco Coach Halilhodzic Aims for AFCON Trophy After Team Overhaul

Vahid Halilhodzic, who has been the coach of the Moroccan national team since 2019, has made significant changes. "I have changed 85 to 90% of the national team to form a collective that follows the philosophy and has the necessary profile to get results. It takes time," he told Sportsmail. "At the beginning, people did not understand, but I knew what I was doing and I only lost one friendly match in two and a half years," stressed the Franco-Bosnian technician. Before AFCON 2021, he made a surprising decision: he did not call up the star of the Atlas Lions, Hakim Ziyech. For him, the collective is more important.

"When you wear the national team jersey and behind you there are 38 million Moroccans who love this team and are proud of it, you cannot spoil its image. It is important that everyone behaves properly," he said. These changes are already bearing fruit. "Now we play faster and there is more off-the-ball movement. [...] We have also gained in efficiency in the six World Cup qualifying matches [2022], scoring 20 goals and conceding only one," said Vahid Halilhodzic.

Placed in Group C, the Atlas Lions had a good start to AFCON 2021 with two wins, one against Ghana (1-0) and the other against the Comoros (2-0) and are heading to the round of 16. "I currently have a very interesting group of players at my disposal. [...] Unfortunately, some of them are injured, some are recovering from an injury, others have had Covid-19 and some players are not in very good shape. [...] I hope that everyone will heal and reach a state of fitness that will allow us to continue our series of consecutive victories, increase our self-esteem and create the conditions to achieve an excellent result in this AFCON," continued the one who failed to win the continental trophy with Côte d’Ivoire in 2010 and Algeria in 2013. He intends to achieve this feat with the Atlas Lions.