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The captain of Morocco’s national football team, Romain Saiss, said the Atlas Lions are prepared for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) – the largest football tournament on the continent.
Despite Morocco’s eye-catching performances during the World Cup in Qatar, Saiss does not consider Morocco as a favorite to win the AFCON trophy.
“I understand why people say that, but none of us were born the last time Morocco won the tournament and our coach was playing when we last made it to the final,” he told the BBC.
The captain said that Côte d’Ivoire, the host of the tournament, is under more pressure as it has the home-field advantage.
“There are a lot of dangerous teams with great experience too, like Senegal, Cameroon, Algeria and Egypt,” he said, highlighting that every game is difficult in Africa.
“It’s going to be a tough competition,” the Atlas Lion said, emphasizing that all players need to be ready mentally to go as far as possible.
Saiss expects the competition to be “one of the hardest” in history.
The Atlas Lion also reminisced about Morocco’s qualification to the semi-finals during the 2022 World Cup, and acknowledged that reaching the semi-finals will be “obviously difficult” in every competition, but he vowed that his team will “keep this level and help football in Morocco to keep growing.”
Earlier this week, the Guardian wrote about the enormous challenge that the Atlas Lions face, with the expectations of Moroccan fans around the world at an all-time high.
“In Qatar [World Cup 2022], they became the first African country to make the competition’s semi-finals, topping a group containing Belgium, Croatia, and Canada before eliminating Spain and Portugal to reach the last four,” the Guardian recalled.
Morocco made 19 appearances throughout the AFCON history but only clinched the trophy once in 1976.
This represents a “disappointing haul” despite the country boasting the “best footballing infrastructure on the continent,” the Guardian said – reiterating King Mohammed VI’s vision to boost football development.
