Rising Moroccan-Belgian Coaches Face Off in Brussels Soccer Showdown

"It is first and foremost a pleasure and a source of pride to be able to compete at the provincial elite level. Dawid is a person with clear principles that have allowed him to achieve excellent results. The fact that I know him personally can only reinforce this feeling," said Aïssa Amkouy in an interview with Sud Info. Knowing each other so well in private and competing sportingly can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, points out Dawid Idrissi for his part. "We exchange a lot on our game philosophies but aside from that, the reality of one season is not the other. And the context of this year is totally different from our last confrontations," he specified.

The two young coaches had already faced each other in P2, but the stakes are no longer the same today. "I had a B team at the time and my main objective was to help the young players progress to the A team. Today, my only objective is to get the three points in each match with Sporting Bruxelles," says Amkouy. For Idrissi, 33, after "three extremely rewarding years of coaching with the bonus of promotion at the end of an exceptional season last year," playing in P1 offers him "the opportunity to confront [his] game project with better opponents and the few matches already played go in this direction."

Do their teams have different playing styles? To this question, Amkouy replies as follows: "The Saint-Michel team is a well-oiled team with a large majority of players trained at the club. [...] As for us, we have started again from our beautiful last season while improving the different sectors of the game." Idrissi, for his part, believes that "Saint-Michel remains an anomaly in the Brussels provincial landscape, with more than 80% of the core trained at the club, without any bonus, while trying to offer a quality football project," even if he recognizes "at times, the lack of maturity. But by chaining the matches in P1, it will get better and better."

The two Moroccan-origin coaches have had a good start to the season and this match is important to them. "Every match is important, because the stake is victory and these points will no longer be there to be sought at the end of the season. This match is particular on a personal level, but the team comes first and we will have to approach it like all the others," said Amkouy. And Idrissi also recalls that "all the matches are important. By remaining faithful to our principles and values, we will give everything on the field. As always."