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After a generally disappointing start to the new century Morocco are hoping that a change of management can reverse a largely downward trend despite a surprise appearance in the final of the African Cup of Nations in 2004, when they finished as runners-up to hosts Tunisia. The Moroccan FA hope that the new era will be heralded by the appointment of Henri Michel, a redoubtable figure in African footballing circles, who is vastly experienced having had spells in charge of Tunisia, Egypt, the UAE and Cameroon. Michel returns for his second spell in charge of the side known as the ‘Atlas Lions’ after guiding them to the World Cup in France 1998 in a 5 year spell between 1995 and 2000. Michel was sacked from the position after a poor performance in the African Cup of Nations in 2000, which saw Morocco struggle in Nigeria failing to make it out of the group stages after finishing behind the hosts and Tunisia. Overall the tournament hasn’t seen much success for Michel after he was also sacked from his subsequent position with the Tunisian national team in 2002, after helping them to qualify for the World Cup in 2002. Morocco’s fortunes have been on a steady decline since 1998 when they came within a whisker of qualifying for the round of 16 at the World Cup in France. Despite beating Scotland in their final game of the group, an already qualified Brazil sent out a weakened team against Norway, gifting their opponents the three points and undermining Morocco’s chances simultaneously. Morocco have failed to re-appear at the World Cup since, not making the cut for either 2002 or 2006. Historically they have been one of the stronger sides on the continent winning the African Cup of Nations in 1972. In 1986 they became the first ever African team to make it through to the knock-out stages of a World Cup final, when they topped their group, which contained both England and Portugal. The decline of Morocco has occurred despite the country being able to call on the services of several European based players, with the remainder of the side being made up of the strongest domestic league players. The Moroccan league is certainly not to be dismissed with some of Africa’s best sides hailing from it, including Raja Casablanca, who represented Africa at the first ever World Club Cup held in Brazil in 2000. Henri Michel has certainly had plenty of players to choose from and several quality players such as Mbark Boussoufa, a one time Chelsea youth player currently with Anderlecht missing out. The same goes for former Ajax winger Nourdin Boukhari, who doesn’t make the trip either. There is also a core of young players at U23 level including Liverpool’s promising Nabil El Zhar and Hibernian’s Abdessalam Benjelloun, who haven’t been included with Michel opting for experience over youth. Michel is expected to prefer a 4-3-3 formation as Morocco look to get the best out of forwards such as Tarik Sektioui from Porto and Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux. There is plenty of experience in goal with none of the three goalkeepers being under 29. The youngest is Abdelillah Bagui, 29, currently of Magreb Fez, who has been involved with the team in the recent friendlies, which included a 2-2 draw with France in Paris and 3-0 mauling of Senegal in November. The centre back options should be made up of former Fulham centre-back Abdeslam Ouaddou, who has recently signed a short-term deal with French side Valenciennes, after spending the last 6 months with Greek giants Olympiacos. Another familiar name to Premiership fans will be probably joining Ouaddou at the back in the form of Talal El Karkouri, the former Charlton player, who left last summer after the club’s relegation to the Championship. El Karkouri is now based in Qatar with Qatar Sports Club, but has made around 75 appearances for both Charlton and previously PSG in Ligue 1, so is a quality defender. At 29 he still has plenty to offer both club and country and a solid performance for Morocco may see him make a return back to Europe sooner rather than later. Nancy right back Mickael Chretien should be on duty there; the side currently riding high in Ligue 1, in second place, rank Chretien as one of their best defenders. The 23 year old is one of three Nancy players included in the squad along with striker Youssouf Hadji and Moncef Zerka and the trio will be hoping to take their club form into this tournament. Left back duties are still up for grabs, but Ukraine based Hicham Mahdoufi could be a possibility. The diminutive defender has often played further forward for his side Metalist Kharkiv but could be employed in a more defensive position. Mahdoufi loves to get forward and his impact in his sides first leg tie in the UEFA Cup against Everton, when he set up the second Kharkiv goal underlined his potential. With no great width expected to be produced from the midfield the full-backs will certainly be encouraged to get forward so playing with an adventurous player such as Mahdoufi may be an appealing option to Michel. Further forward Youssef Safri, the former Norwich and Coventry player may well be asked to play a holding role in the midfield. Safri has been in England since he first caught the eye in the World Cup in 1998 but has since drifted into the Championship after starting his career in the Premiership with Coventry, who also introduced Moustapha Hadji and Youssouf Chippo to the English game. Other midfield options include Badr El Kaddouri, a midfielder based with Dynamo Kiev in the Ukraine and Houssine Kharja, a one time Sporting Lisbon and Roma player now with Serie B side Piacenza. Morocco’s strength undoubtedly lies in attack with several well known players being included in the squad. Playing from the right side of a three pronged attack will be Porto forward Tarik Sektioui. The former AZ and Willem II player has been having a brilliant season with the runaway league leaders in Portugal, helping himself to 4 goals in 19 matches. He is also versatile and can play from the left side, but being naturally right footed he prefers the right flank to attack from. Watch out for his runs through the middle looking to cut in from the flank; he has an eye for goal from long distance and has rattled in several spectacular goals in the Superliga this season. From the left, Morocco a likely to start with Youssef Hadji, younger brother of France 1998 star Moustpha Hadji. Like Sektioui, Hadji has also been enjoying an excellent season with his club side and after only half a season is well on his way to recording his highest ever league goal total in his second spell with Nancy. He has 4 goals from a position behind the striker, as Nancy have stunned all and sundry by sitting in second position, just four points off the usually dominant Lyon. Through the middle will be the elegant Marouane Chamakh, who for the first tournament since his international break through, comes into the African Cup of Nations without the burden of club form to worry about. Since the arrival of David Bellion at Bordeaux, Chamakh has been relegated to a supporting role, with the majority of his 23 appearances in the side coming from the bench. Still only 23, internationally Chamakh has struggled to cope with the weight of Moroccan expectation so not coming into the tournament as ‘the Man’ may relieve him of some of that pressure. Nevertheless Chamakh still has 6 goals in 6 starts in the UEFA Cup as Laurent Blanc’s men cruised into the round of 32 and but with Sektioui and Chippo alongside him, Chamakh may not feel the burden of being the side’s many goal threat . Having slipped down the pecking order at his club Chamakh may view this tournament as the ideal shop window for any side considering a transfer for the talented if inconsistent forward. Back-up to Chamakh is provided by Youssef Mokhtari of MSV Duisberg and Moncef Zerka the third Nancy player in the team. Morocco cruised through qualification for the tournament from the mini Group 12, which only contained them plus Zimbabwe and Malawi. With three wins and a draw from their four games Morocco showed that they should still be considered a force at this level with Chamakh and Chippo both grabbing two goals from the four matches. Can Henri Michel overcome his African Cup of Nations jinx and restore pride in Morocco’s national team? They have been drawn into a hard to call Group A along with Ghana, Guinea and Namibia. They start against the relative new comers to this stage Namibia and will be hoping to go into the games against hosts Ghana and Guinea with three points on the board to give them the best possible start. The decisive factor in this group could be the outcome of the Guinea-Morocco match, if we presume that Ghana, thanks to home support, will have enough to go through. For all their talented strikers Morocco can look lightweight up front and with no obvious targetman may find they have trouble getting the ball to stick in the final third. Given Guinea’s huge defence it may be a tough task for Morocco to break them down and Guinea should do enough to get the win and join the hosts in the round of 16. Having failed to score a goal registering only 2 points thanks to two 0-0 draws in Egypt in 2006 any sort of attacking improvement would be a boost even if the side fail to make it through to the last 8. Therefore making it through to the knock-out stages will be seen as a major improvement prior to starting qualification for the biggest event in African Football; the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa. Main man - Tarik Sektioui: the talented forward is finally starting to live up to his potential at Porto after being taken there by his former AZ coach Co Adriaanse. Flitting around from flank to flank as well as popping up in the middle, Sektioui will be expected to provide the service to Chamakh and Chippo as Morocco look to improve their attacking play. Prediction – out in the first round but with a few more in the ‘Goals For’ column. Posted by Walter Townsend on Thursday, 10th January 2008 (Average rating 0 from 0 votes. Vote) (0 Comments) |