Morocco head coach Walid Regragui says overconfidence can be a stumbling block in their persuit of winning the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 1988.
The hosts face Tanzania in the last-16, an opponent who qualified as one of the third-best qualified spots, with two points and historically have yet to win a single game at AFCON.
It leaves the Atlas Lions as overwhelming favourites for the encounter but Regragui, who has come under major scrunitny from supporters at the tournament, and could even be fired, should he not deliver the title, says focus is required.
“We have to remain focused and remember why Morocco have not won this cup for over 40 years, it’s been overconfidence, we need to respect this Tanzania team who has a good league and have players playing outside,” he said in the pre-match press conference in Rabat.
“There’s no small teams in AFCON. One loss and you’re out, there’s no room for mistakes at this stage. Clubs and national teams are different, different spirit, different challenge, we always have a difficult d tough game against Tanzania, with fighting spirit, might defend a lot, small space and counters a lot.
“I watched that final between Berkane and Simba, the CHAN, only four players were in there and others out the country, but we want to win the confrontation inshallah.”
He went on to address the question marks on CAF African Footballer of the Year, Achraf Hakimi – who made his return from injury in their final Group A clash against Zambia last week.
“Since his injury, we’ve been communicating with him, we need to make sure he plays at the right time, he played 30 minutes against Zambia, it was the right time without risks, now physically he is ready,” he said.
“He’s a good candidate for tomorrow’s game but we’ll have to see, we will make a decision to allow him to play without risks, this evening we’ll think about it but he’s ready.”
