Libreville, January 27, 2012 (MAP)
Libreville, January 27, 2012 (MAP)
The Moroccan football squad lost on Friday to Gabon 2-3, to leave the championship very early.
The Atlas Lions’ poor performance continued, unsurprisingly, after a 1-2 defeat before Tunisia in the first game last Monday.
The squad’s coach Belgian Eric Gerets has publicly and continuously pledged to bring the cup back to Morocco, but, needless to say, only the pitch has the last say.
The coach’s tactic choices were highly called into question by sports analysts. They blamed him in particular for fielding players who do not play in their clubs, and therefore lack in physical preparedness.
They also wonder how the team will play in Africa, with its peculiar climate and conditions, but prepares in Marbella, Spain.
Only once did Morocco win the African Cup as early as 1976. Since then, the best performance ever was in 2004 under Moroccan coach Baddou Zaki, when they reached the final and lost it to Tunisia.
The Moroccan squad will play Niger on Tuesday before leaving the championship.
Tunisia and Gabon qualified for the second round in this group C, after garnering two victories each.
