The Atlas Lions seemed set to secure another victory in their second AFCON appearance when they took on the Eagles of Mali yesterday night at the Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz and his teammates created several scoring chances before their efforts culminated in a 1-0 advantage right before the end of the 1st half.
In the 2nd half, while the Atlas Lions struggled to add another goal that would make their quest to secure 3 points easier, all it took is one well-played individual effort then a combination by Malian players for the Eagles to get the equalizer after they were awarded a penalty.
While the final 1-1 result was not necessarily bad, it has certainly cast doubt on this Moroccan squad’s ability to keep the AFCON trophy on home soil. Strangely enough, such an underwhelming performance may exactly be what the Moroccan team needed to change course.
Favorite vs outsider
During the last 3 precedent AFCON editions, the Atlas Lions were referred to as a favorite team to win the cup every single time. For some commentators, this was justified by the quality of players Morocco have had in recent years, its good performances in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Morocco’s FIFA ranking and the overall outstanding performances and titles won by Moroccan football and futsal teams since 2023.
The fact that Morocco is hosting the current AFCON edition makes it a given for many to see Morocco as a favorite, if not the favorite to win the tournament. But recent history just suggests the opposite. It seems obvious that Morocco shouldn’t be seen that way because the Atlas Lions have failed to reach an AFCON semi-final since 2004.
For some reason, Morocco has mostly failed to live up to its “favorite”’ status. On the other hand, it’s when the Atlas Lions were seen as outsiders that they surprised everybody. In 2004, when Morocco reached the final, the Atlas Lions were recovering from poor performances in the 2 previous AFCON editions that saw them get knocked out from the group stage.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, international and Arab football commentators for the most part were betting on Morocco’s failing to go beyond a group stage in which they had to snatch a qualifying ticket against Croatia, Belgium and Canada.
And in 2025, who in Morocco would have expected that the U-20 team that lost the AFCON title to South Africa in a disappointing fashion would run through the likes of Spain, Brazil, France and Argentina to claim the World Cup title?
‘Good performance’ vs efficiency
During their faceoff with Mali, the Moroccan side dominated the game and created several occasions to score. Two English commentators described the Atlas Lions performance as a “good”’ one. Other Moroccan football analysts begged to differ. In all cases the end result was a disappointing one. Moroccan players failed to be lethal when presented with chances to score. Generally, this is not what makes a team gain titles.
The Atlas Lions coach Walid Regraguii, since Morocco’s rise to the forefront of global football after reaching the 2022 World Cup semi-final, seems to be struggling to do the opposite of what always characterized his style as a coach: solid and compact defensive football with lethal counter attacking transitions.
While his style wasn’t pleasing to watch for many fans and football commentators who always complained that his teams lacked what they called in Arabic “adae” (good performance), he famously mocked that when they won the African Champions League as head coach of Wydad Athletic Club in 2022.
“Adae? Right. It’s only here in Morocco that I learned this word. Well, here is the so-called ‘’Adae,” he said with sarcasm as he pointed to his gold medal before concluding: “Modern football is about efficiency and not so-called ‘good’ performance.”
Today Moroccan football aficionados seem to be complaining about the lack of both “adae’’ and efficiency. The Atlas Lions were good at bearing the pressure of supposedly stronger teams such as Belgium, Spain and Portugal that dominated the game. In the African context, they have had to switch to a football of possession as they are generally the stronger team on paper. But as many commentators have pointed out, Regragui has been struggling with this transition.
Should he go back to his fundamentals? It’s something for him to figure out. What matters most to Moroccan fans is the end result.
In that sense, the draw with Mali is a good wake-up call for Regragui and his assistants to try to fix what can be fixed before it’s too late. Yesterday’s disappointing result may have led to the Atlas Lions losing their status as a favorite, with fewer people now betting on Morocco to be the tournament’s winner. If anything, history tells us this is not a bad thing after all. It is now up to Reguragui and his protégés to take everybody by surprise.
