Morocco target top spot in group ahead of Brazil

ATLANTA, June 23 : Morocco have set their sights on topping their group ahead of Brazil but are not too concerned about the possible permutations that would follow for them in the first knockout round, coach Mohamed Ouahbi said ahead of their last group fixture against Haiti.

A win over already-eliminated Haiti on Wednesday would lift Morocco to seven points and give them a chance to finish ahead of Brazil in Group I, depending on the outcome of the clash between the five-times world champions and Scotland in Miami.

“My preference is to beat Haiti and finish ahead of Brazil in the group,” he told a press conference on Tuesday.

“There is talk we might play next against the Netherlands, but it could also be Japan, but even then France or Argentina, but it is not anything we are taking into consideration."

Morocco's qualification is not confirmed, but with four points is highly likely.

“Probably we are already qualified, but we still want to beat Haiti, and so we plan to field our best possible team in the game. We can use the same starting line-up, but there are still some things we are thinking about before deciding," the coach added.

HAITI FIRST TEAM ELIMINATED

Ouahbi warned he expected a reaction from Haiti, who were the first side eliminated from the 48-team tournament after losing their opening two games to Scotland and Brazil.

“Haiti are going to be 100 per cent motivated because it is a World Cup game, and they will have the objective of getting the first points of the tournament. We’ll have to be wary of this," he said.

“We’ve been analysing them from long before the World Cup, and they’re a great team; we need to show patience.”

Despite Morocco’s impressive showing against Brazil in their opening game, which ended in a 1-1 draw, and scoring early to beat Scotland, Ouahbi faced a barrage of questions from Moroccan reporters about a lack of goals from his side, and whether they needed to play with a traditional centre forward, which was not the case in the opening two fixtures.

“We have good players with different profiles, and so it depends on the context of the game and depends on the profile of opponents. We need to show patience and know they will be able to rise to the challenge," he added.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Atlanta; Editing by Ed Osmond)