HIBAPRESS
The player of the Moroccan national football team, Osama Tahraoui, said on Thursday in Salé that the match of the Atlas Lions against the Malian national team, for the second round of the Group A competitions of the Africa Cup of Nations (Morocco 2025), will be difficult and tough, especially since the "Eagles" will be looking for a win after settling for a draw in the first round.
Tahraoui, the midfielder of the Moroccan national team, explained in a statement to the press before the start of the last training session for the Atlas Lions at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Maamoura, on the eve of the match against the "Malian Eagles" on Friday at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat at nine o'clock in the evening, that the difficulty of the match lies in the fact that the Malians will seek to achieve a better result than the first match against Zambia, adding that all the teams that face the Moroccan national team are making every effort to achieve a positive result. The Feyenoord player confirmed that the second round match, like the previous matches, will be difficult, pointing out that the players are aware of the size of the responsibility placed on their shoulders in order to achieve victory. He pointed out that the technical staff and the players of the national team analyzed the first match against the Comoros national team in order to identify the shortcomings, highlighting that these mistakes were remedied during the subsequent training sessions, with work being done to strengthen the strengths of the national elements. For his part, his teammate in the national team, Youssef Belamri, said that all the matches of this tournament are characterized by strong rivalry between the various teams, adding that the focus of the national elements is on achieving victory over the Malian national team and winning the three points. The left-back of the Raja Club Athletic pointed out that he had remained focused with the group since the beginning of the tournament, despite his previous presence on the reserve list, confirming that he is ready to add when the technical staff asks him to do so. Belamri added that the national team is thinking about each match separately, noting that the national elements have all the ingredients to achieve victory and book a ticket to the round of 16. For his part, the national team player, Shamseddine Talbi, considered that physical fitness is a decisive factor in such matches, pointing out that the Malian national team plays beautiful football and does not rely on defense in most of its matches. After confirming that the national team manages each match separately, Talbi stressed that "the Atlas Lions are able to find solutions and shake the opponent's net, whether in the first or second half". The player of Sunderland of England continued by saying that the victory in the first match removed a lot of pressure on the national elements, adding that the players will offer better levels with the succession of matches. The national team had won in the first round against its Comorian counterpart, with two goals to nil, while the Malian national team drew with its Zambian counterpart with a goal each. The Comoros national team faces, for the second round of Group A, its Zambian counterpart at the Mohammed V Complex in Casablanca, starting at half past six in the evening.
