Mark Gleeson
MOROCCO have had to turn around their mental approach in a bid to avoid the disastrous Africa Cup of Nations finals soccer campaign they had this time last year, their coach said yesterday.
Rachid Taoussi, whose side play in Saturday's opening day double header, said he had sought to develop a team spirit among his talented group of players to avoid the embarrassing crash of the 2012 event.
"Before, Morocco had players of quality, now we have a team of quality," the coach, brought in just four months ago to rescue the team's fortunes, said.
He took over from Eric Gerets, who was reportedly earning more than R12-million a month to coach the north Africans but only managed to preside over a series of mishaps.
"We have created a spirit in the team and a solidarity in the way we play," Taoussi said after 10 days' preparation in Johannesburg.
"We are now ready to overcome the obstacles ahead of us and do much better than we did before."
Morocco open their campaign against Angola in the second Group A match at Soccer City and then go on to play Cape Verde Islands and South Africa in Durban.
In Gabon last year, Morocco were considered one of the leading teams but crashed out after two matches.
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