Hicham Dguig, head coach of Morocco’s national futsal team, the Atlas Lions, commended his team’s performance in their opening match of the Futsal World Cup 2024, despite the significant pressure they faced.
Morocco secured a 4-2 win against Tajikistan on the opening day of the Group E matches.
“The players put on a strong performance in a fast-paced match. The opponent benefited from a strong crowd support due to their proximity to Uzbekistan,” he said.
He admitted that some of the less experienced players made mistakes, but emphasized how they handled the pressure and succeeded under the situation.
“It was the match I feared the most because it was our first, and we were up against a team we did not know well,” the coach noted, adding “Our opponent showed great confidence, with a goalkeeper playing actively and a strong determination to get a good result; facing such teams is always challenging.”
Soufiane El Mesrar, one of the national team’s top players, described the match as particularly challenging, noting that the Tajik team had almost home-field advantage.
“We won the match, albeit with a below-par performance. “We plan to address our shortcomings to advance further in the tournament,” he stated.
Goalkeeper Abdelkrim Anbia recognized as the Player of the Match, asserted that ‘the opening match is always challenging, but our team displayed resilience enabling us to secure the three points.”
“Now we will prepare for Panama to secure another win and proceed to our final match against Portugal without undue pressure,” the goalkeeper concluded.
In their upcoming match on Thursday, the Atlas Lions will take on Panama following the latter’s 10-1 loss to Portugal.