Durban - On paper, Morocco will be the firm favourites to win their opening 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against South Africa at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium on Thursday.
The North Africans will not only have home ground advantage but several of their players also play in Europe’s top five leagues and are regularly competing against the best players in the world.
However, upsets do happen in football all the time and the Morocco team has several flaws as was seen in their recent 3-0 thrashing at the hands of the USA.
With that being said, the following are five players from the Morocco team that Bafana must closely monitor.
Sofyan Ambrabat
Though not the most technically gifted player, the Fiorentina man has the tank-like stamina of Peter Shalulile and is good at working his way into tight spaces, something that could pose a problem to the Bafana defenders.
When on song, Ambrabat gets the basics of his game right and is impressive when taking on physical duels.
Ambrabat can pose issues to Bafana if on song but he did not have the best of seasons. According to Whoscored.com, he committed more fouls than he made tackles in each of his last three seasons in Serie A.
🤬 Sofyan Amrabat has committed more fouls than he has made tackles in each of his three seasons in Serie A
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) January 25, 2022
Achraf Hakimi
The 23-year-old is widely regarded as being one of the best right-backs in the world. A product of the Real Madrid youth development system, Hakimi helped Inter Milan win their first Serie A title in 11 years in 2021. This season, he helped PSG win the Ligue 1.
If Hakimi is on song, the Bafana Bafana attackers are likely to have a very difficult time breaching the Morocco defensive line.
Youssef En-Nesyri
An interesting fact about Morocco is that they do not have many prolific scorers in their team at the moment. With 12 international goals to his name, En-Nesyri is the highest scorer currently in their squad.
The 25-year-old will be expected to lead the line against Bafana. He did not have the best of seasons for Sevilla as he scored just five goals in all competitions last season but will be looking to cause havoc for the Bafana defence with his pace and put his frustrations behind him.
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Romain Saiss
The 32-year-old has been a key component of the Wolves team that has continuously defied expectations in the Premier League over the past few years. He is the captain of the Morocco team and will be expected to provide leadership.
Saiss is good on the ball, has a good work ethic and is aggressive with a knack of also putting in hard tackles. He is good at playing forward passes but does have a tendency to give away penalties cheaply.
Aymen Barkok
There is usually a relatively unknown player who comes to the fore in key games and Barkok could be the man against Bafana. The Moroccans 3-0 defeat at the hands of the United States in their last game suggests that they need to make changes to their team.
There is no shame in losing to the current US team but Morocco will feel that they should have at least gone down with a fight.
Barkok did not play much club football last season for Eintracht Frankfurt but did witness his club win the Europa League.
Barkok has spent his entire professional career in Germany and played football at youth level for Germany prior to committing his international future to Morocco in 2020. Since then, he has become a key component of the Morocco team and the midfielder could be a surprise package against Bafana Bafana.
@EshlinV