Morocco have played at the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) only twice before, with their best ever performance being a fourth-place finish in 2013.
As they prepare for another stab at a possible title this year, head coach Said Chiba has disclosed that a special visitor at their camp back home has imparted massive hunger to do well in Algeria.
Chiba has told CAFOnline.com that senior team head coach Walid Regragui visited them in camp one day before they travelled to Algeria, where he imparted a bit of confidence into the team.
Regragui famously led Morocco to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year, the first African country to ever do it, coming just months after he had led Wyadad Athletic Club to the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League title.
And now, the Under-17 Atlas Cubs hope they can emulate their senior mates, and challenge for the African title and qualification to the World Cup.
"Walid (Regragui) came and talked to the team before we departed and he found the right words to motivate the group. For sure, it was a source of good vibes for the players who hope they can be good enough for the senior team in future," the coach said.
He added; "Seeing the achievement of the senior team at the World Cup of course is a huge motivation especially for the young players because they see that their big brothers have achieved a lot and they can do so too."
Midfielder Hamza El Moutaoukil says it was a huge motivation to see Regragui take time to speak to them and he hopes the words he imparted in them will be the fuel they need to charge for a positive performance in Algeria.
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"The visit definitely incentivized the players and our aspirations are now to do well. We hope that we will not disappoint our people because the expectation is huge on us," El Moutaoukil noted.
Morocco begin their campaign against a tough South Africa side on Sunday, where they hope to kick off with victory, a first step to pump their confidence for a good outing.
One of the factors driving them, is a possible qualification to the World Cup.
"We have a generation that has been working together for the last two years towards this major competition and we have an ambition to achieve a great result,"
"We are in a very difficult group with very strong teams but I believe we have the chances. South Africa is a very respected team and they had very good results in the qualification matches so it will not be an easy team. Individually they have very good players too," coach Chiba further offered.
Morocco and South Africa are meeting at this level of competition for the first time ever.
