Rabat – Gregg Berhalter, head coach of the United States’ football team (USMNT), has said that the upcoming friendly match between Morocco and the United States is “a good challenge” for his team.
The game, which is the USMNT’s first friendly match in the run-up to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, will take place on June 1 at the TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Morocco’s national football team will be the first African squad to play against USMNT since Gregg became head coach in 2018. “We are very much looking forward to the challenge,” said Berhalter in an interview with the Moroccan news outlet MAP Sport.
Berhalter highlighted the talent and performance of the Moroccan national team, especially during World Cup qualifiers. “They scored a lot of goals and conceded very few, so it will be a good challenge. The United States has never beaten Morocco and we are very aware of their quality,” he added.
The World Cup final draw placed Morocco in group F alongside Belgium, Croatia, and Canada, whereas the United States was drawn into group B with England, Iran, and the European playoff winner.
The US team will play another friendly match on June 5 against Uruguay, followed by two Nations League matchups against Granada and El Salvador on June 10 and June 14, respectively.
According to the US coach, the friendly matches against Morocco and Uruguay are “important opportunities for our preparation for the World Cup. We wanted to play against teams that were also in the World Cup, so we knew they would be competitive.”
After two decades of absence, Morocco’s Atlas Lions made their return to the World Cup in 2018 with an impressive performance that caught the world’s attention.
They will hope to repeat and surpass that performance at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which is set to kick off on November 21, with the final taking place on December 18.
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