Many Dutch people will no doubt support Morocco in the Africa Cup in the coming weeks. The Lions of the Atlas are in the pool of death and must therefore immediately take three points in their opening match. With Namibia as an opponent, Morocco meets the underdog of group D in the first match.
Morocco:
In Morocco they are currently dealing with a great generation. In addition to experienced players (Medhi Benatia, 64 international matches, Mbark Boussoufa, 68 international matches and Karim El Ahmadi, 63 international matches), De Leeuwen van de Atlas also has plenty of talent in their selection. Noussair Mazraoui and Hakim Ziyech were last month with Ajax in the semifinals of the Champions League and in addition, national coach Hervé Renard has a number of gems at his disposal. In short: if Morocco wants to win another prize, then this Africa Cup must happen. Renard’s 23-strong selection has talent and experience and it is now up to Renard to keep all the frogs in the wheelbarrow. If that succeeds then Morocco can still be seen as one of the tournament favorites.
With the Ivory Coast, South Africa and Namibia, the Lions of the Atlas are in a very heavy group. On paper it is even the group of death. Two years ago, Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup and South Africa should not be underestimated by Morocco. Normally the opening match with Namibia, the number 113 of the FIFA world ranking, should not be a problem for the formation of Renard. However: with three defeats from the last three games, they have not really got the form yet in Morocco. A 0-1 defeat to Argentina can still happen to Morocco, but in the preparation for this tournament, De Leeuwen van de Atlas also lost against Gambia (0-1) and Zambia (2-3). The two defeats in their own Marrakesh will have caused little confidence among Moroccan fans.
Namibia:
Namibia will be an unknown country for many football fans. Understandable, because in nine of the last ten African Cups, Namibia was not present. Not to mention Namibia’s qualifying series for the World Cups: The Brave Warriors never qualified for a world championship and lost 24 of the 42 qualifying matches they played. The English-speaking country is in Egypt so the party but the question is whether we can expect a lot from Namibia this Africa Cup. In terms of draw, the team of coach Ricardo Mannett is not happy, because on paper Ivory Coast, Morocco and South Africa have a lot more quality than Namibia.
Namibia was in the group with Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Zambia during the qualification. The last day of play in this qualifying group was one to be appreciated, because all four countries could still qualify for the African Cup. Guinea-Bissau and Namibia eventually took the lead. Namibia took one point more than Zambia, and had as many points as Mozambique. As Guinea-Bissau made 2-2 in the final minute against Mozambique and Namibia had a better mutual result against Mozambique, De Brave Warriors qualified for the Africa Cup of 2019. Can it still be understood?
The 23 names of Namibia will no doubt ring a bell. Only two Namibian players play outside of Africa and they don’t do that at the biggest clubs in the world. Manfred Starke (FC Carl Zeiss Jena) earns his money in Germany, while Ryan Nyambe plays a supporting role at Blackburn Rovers.
