Morocco’s Futsal Defeat Exposes Training Gaps Against Portugal’s Advanced System

Difference in terms of training and experience, individual errors and physical weakness... These are all factors that contributed to Morocco’s defeat against Portugal. While the Portuguese team is based on an advanced training system that starts from the youngest categories, where the basics of the game are instilled from childhood, futsal in Morocco still mainly focuses on seniors who enter competition without having benefited from systematic training from a very young age. As a result: the protégés of Jorge Braz dominated the match until the end thanks to good organization and developed tactics, and the men of Hicham Dguig made individual mistakes and often made ineffective tactical choices.

The physical weakness is the weak point of the Atlas Lions. "The match was highly intense, given the gaps with Portugal, whose players have been trained in futsal from a young age, while we work directly with the seniors," explained Hicham Dguig, at the end of the match. Since the start of the Futsal World Cup, Morocco has only conceded one defeat. The Atlas Lions beat Tajikistan (4-2) and Panama (6-3), before being heavily defeated by Portugal on Sunday (4-1).

The Atlas Lions stumbled, but they did not fall. Before their match against Iran, a futsal powerhouse, 12-time Asian champion, scheduled for Thursday, September 26 at the Bukhara Universal Sports Complex at 1:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. in Uzbekistan), they must learn from their mistakes and focus on correcting the weaknesses that appeared in the match against Portugal, particularly in terms of defensive concentration and physical condition. They must also improve their performance in the tactical and mental areas, and know how to seize opportunities in the best possible way. If they defeat Iran, they will face the world number 1, Brazil!