Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi warned his players against underestimating Lesotho or using unfamiliar conditions as an excuse when the Atlas Lions play their second 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
Morocco opened Group A with a 2-0 victory over Gabon and sit top of the group on goal difference. Lesotho lost their opening match 2-1 to Niger.
“The conditions are different, so we have to adapt, stay focused on what we know how to do and try to win this match,” Ouahbi told reporters Monday.
He rejected suggestions that the weather or pitch could become mitigating factors if Morocco struggle.
“It is not about looking for excuses,” he said. “Whether it is the temperature, the quality of the pitch or anything else, we cannot have excuses. We should only think about the solutions we need to find to win matches.”
Ouahbi said the squad in South Africa is otherwise fully available, with Nayef Aguerd the only absentee. The defender did not travel to Bloemfontein and remains at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Maâmora, where he is continuing a return-to-competition program.
The coach also said Morocco’s younger and newly integrated players would continue to receive opportunities, including room to make mistakes as they develop.
“The best way not to fall into the trap of thinking the match will be easy is to be fully focused,” Ouahbi said.
Lesotho host Morocco at Free State Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Tuesday, with kick-off at 1 p.m. GMT.
Rephrase in a different way as if you were a native American speaker as a content creation expert and do not talk about yourself or your experience in the text and do not show yourself as an artificial intelligence who wrote and fill the bullet point in the topic and speak the heart of the topic itself and dont take date of blog in ther first and dont take text like box of newsliter subscribe on post from content and romove all linke insert in content and and remove all affiliate disclosure phrases on content like this “This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links that allow us to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please see our Disclosure Policy for more info” and “#” put in its place bullet point, and romove name of the web site or his links we are take a content from our new creation, and don’t publish clone new content more than just one time
