A Moroccan star has now admitted that his side are aiming to "have a big" 2023 Africa Cup of Nations to follow up on their impressive showing at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The Atlas Lions became the first-ever African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup, having done so at the last edition of the global competition. Now, according to defender Romain Saiss, their ambition is to go "as far as possible" at the upcoming AFCON tournament.
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Morocco who are currently the highest-ranked African nation in the world in thirteenth position per FIFA, have only won Africa's showpiece tournament once, and that was in 1976.
Saiss, who plays his club football at Saudi Pro League Al Hilal, has, however, said that the side are aiming to make their nation proud.
"We have set high goals for ourselves. We want to have a big AFCON. We know that everyone is waiting for us now after our 2022 World Cup and we have a big responsibility of doing well," the defender said per CAF.
"So we want to have a great competition for Morocco and make all the people who follow us proud.
"We arrived quite early to acclimatize to the weather here. We are preparing very well. We know that the competition starts soon, and we still have a few days to refine the details before the start."
"A successful AFCON for Morocco means going as far as possible and that means going to the end of the tournament. When we start a tournament, it is to go as far as possible and the furthest possible is the final," he added.
"We will concentrate on the group matches, get through the groups and then we will take it game by game once this first objective is achieved. The goal is to stay in Cote d'Ivoire for a long time."
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The Atlas Lions were drawn in Group F, and will be competing to make it out of that group stage along with DR Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia. Their first match will be against Tanzania on Wednesday, 17 January.
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