New Morocco coach backs African Confederation decision | OneFootball

The new coach of Morocco’s national team, Mohamed Ouahbi, congratulated his country this Thursday on the “well-deserved” decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to strip Senegal of the African Cup of Nations 2025 title, which they won in January, and award it instead to Morocco.

“First of all, I would like to congratulate all Moroccans, the coaching staff, the players, and the Federation for the good news we received two days ago, which is truly deserved,” he declared during the presentation of his first squad list for Morocco’s two friendlies, against Ecuador and Paraguay.

This decision “pleased everyone (…) but it’s important to focus on the present and the future. My goal is to get the team back to performing at its best in time for the World Cup,” added the coach of the ‘Atlas Lions’, who was appointed at the beginning of March to replace Walid Regragui, just three months before the World Cup, which will be held in North America (from June 11 to July 19).

Senegal won the final 1-0 in Rabat on January 18. However, on Tuesday, CAF decided to strip them of the title after the Senegalese players left the field for a few minutes in protest when a penalty was awarded to the host team in the final moments of stoppage time in the second half.

After being persuaded by their captain, Sadio Mané, to return to the field, Morocco missed the penalty and then, in extra time, Pape Gueye scored the winning goal for the ‘Lions of Teranga’.

*With content from AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.