Audio By Carbonatix
Morocco have set their sights on topping their group ahead of Brazil but are not too concerned about the possible permutations that would follow for them in the first knockout round, coach Mohamed Ouahbi said ahead of their last group fixture against Haiti.
A win over already-eliminated Haiti on Wednesday would lift Morocco to seven points and give them a chance to finish ahead of Brazil in Group I, depending on the outcome of the clash between the five-time world champions and Scotland in Miami.
“My preference is to beat Haiti and finish ahead of Brazil in the group,” he told a press conference on Tuesday.
“There is talk we might play next against the Netherlands, but it could also be Japan, or even then, France or Argentina, but it is not anything we are taking into consideration."
Morocco's qualification is not confirmed, but with four points is highly likely.
“Probably, we are already qualified, but we still want to beat Haiti, and so we plan to field our best possible team in the game. We can use the same starting line-up, but there are still some things we are thinking about before deciding," the coach added.
HAITI FIRST TEAM ELIMINATED
Ouahbi warned that he expected a reaction from Haiti, who were the first side eliminated from the 48-team tournament after losing their opening two games to Scotland and Brazil.
“Haiti are going to be 100% motivated because it is a World Cup game, and they will have the objective of getting the first points of the tournament. We’ll have to be wary of this," he said.
“We’ve been analysing them for a long time before the World Cup, and they’re a great team; we need to show patience.”
Despite Morocco’s impressive showing against Brazil in their opening game, which ended in a 1-1 draw, and scoring early to beat Scotland, Ouahbi faced a barrage of questions from Moroccan reporters about a lack of goals from his side and whether they needed to play with a traditional centre forward, which was not the case in the opening two fixtures.
“We have good players with different profiles, and so it depends on the context of the game and depends on the profile of opponents. We need to show patience and know they will be able to rise to the challenge," he added.
Latest Stories
-
Auditing the Auditor-General: How special audit understated a COVID-19 expenditure
21 minutes -
A Partnership for Progress: Why the ProMark–KPMG collaboration matters for Africa’s digital assets future
30 minutes -
Catholic Bishops pressure gov’t to sign long-delayed mission schools agreement
2 hours -
Cedi under fresh pressure as Christmas import demand drives dollar surge
2 hours -
Ato Forson eyes first-week November for 2027 Budget, promises jobs and major infrastructure push
2 hours -
Catholic Bishops demand probe into ‘protocol admissions’ amid SHS placement challenges
2 hours -
SHS placement: Catholic Bishops demand probe into alleged payments for school places
2 hours -
Facts about Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery Initial Public Offering
3 hours -
Trump says AI safety fears a ‘hoax’ as he rejects calls for greater safeguards
3 hours -
Oil climbs as Saudi pipeline outage, fresh attacks heighten supply concerns
3 hours -
Donald Trump Jr and Bettina Trump say Putin ally paid for some wedding festivities as a ‘gift’
3 hours -
Farouk Aliu Mahama supports medical student with GH¢10,000 donation
3 hours -
EU is set to propose ban on social media and AI chatbots for under-15s
4 hours -
No SHS space shortage – GES says 800,000 places available for just over 600,000 students
4 hours -
Emmys 2026: The winners and nominees in full
4 hours