ACTUALITE |
10.01.2022
Morocco and Ghana kick off Group C
The Atlas Lions won Africa´s most coveted trophy in 1976 and were runners-up in 2004, while they reached the round of 16 in Egypt last time out.
Vahid Halilhodzic has a strong squad at his disposal despite the omission of Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech, with 24 players plying their trade in Europe.
The only home-based players in the 28-man party are Wydad Casablanca goalkeeper Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti and AS FAR defender Mohamed Chibi.
The North Africans qualified for the tournament in Cameroon as winners of their group and were undefeated in their six matches.
Halilhodzic´s side warmed up for Afcon 2021 by competing in the Arab Cup, where they were knocked out by eventual champions Algeria in the quarterfinals.
Halilhodzic has been tasked with reaching the semifinals and he says the squad is determined to realise that goal.
"We have to prepare well to face the three teams in the group: Ghana, Gabon, and the Comoros," the Bosnian was quoted as saying on CAFOnline.
"Although Morocco are favorites to reach the second round, you have to prepare well and play with a lot of ambition and determination to go as far as possible."
The Black Stars have been crowned champions of Africa four times, with their last success coming in 1982. They were runners-up on five occasions.
Milovan Rajevac´s men topped their group in the qualifiers with a record of four victories, one draw and one defeat.
Rajevac has plenty of experience to call upon in his squad which contains the likes of Andre and Jordan Ayew, Thomas Partey, Jonathan Mensah, Baba Rahman and Daniel Amartey.
The West African giants lost 3-0 to the Fennec Foxes on 5 January in their final warm-up game ahead of Afcon 2021.
Rajevac is relishing the opportunity to take on some of Africa´s biggest hitters and aims to improve on their showing at the 2019 edition, where they exited at the round of 16.
"At the Afcon, we will have the ability to play against some of the big teams like Morocco and Gabon," the Serbian was quoted as saying on CAFOnline.
"We have the opportunity to get to know the teams even better. But time is on our side for more matches, and we will do much better at the Afcon."
|
|
Hits: 1 | Source:Autres | |
|
|
|
|
| |