Morocco’s World Cup Heroes Face Uphill Battle at Africa Cup of Nations

"Logic would dictate that the Moroccan national team be among the favorites to win CAN 2023. [...] However, Morocco is not the favorite," said Abdeslam Ouaddou in an interview with the Qatari media Winwin. According to him, the continental tournament is quite different from the World Cup, which saw the brilliant participation of Morocco. A position that reflects the opinion of his former teammate Walid Regragui, coach of the Moroccan national team. "Today, we are not favorites. I apologize to the Moroccan people because it’s true that I was saying ’if we don’t make at least the semi-finals. But I think today there are better teams than us on the continent," he had said in a press conference.

"The conditions of the CAN will be different from those of the World Cup," explained Ouaddou. To support his argument, he points out that this CAN will be played in Côte d’Ivoire, a country known for its tropical climate. "It is always difficult to designate the North African teams as favorites when the tournament takes place in sub-Saharan Africa," says the former central defender of the Atlas Lions (68 caps). In addition to the climate, he mentioned the quality of the pitches in sub-Saharan countries, which deteriorate in parallel with the progress of the selections in the competition. So he advises these teams to "modify their ways of playing", and to have "at least two types of playing style", to go far in this CAN.

To recall, Morocco has been drawn in group F. The Atlas Lions will face the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which they had eliminated in the World Cup qualifiers, and will also face Zambia and Tanzania.