Hosts Morocco face heavy burden of expectation at Afcon

Africa Cup of Nations hosts Morocco are putting up their best foot forward with sparkling stadiums and much-improved facilities for the 24 competing teams, but the pressure on their own footballers to deliver the title is potentially stifling.

Africa's top-ranked team were semi-finalists at the last World Cup, have won a record 18 games in a row and boast a star-studded squad of players based at leading European clubs, making them hot favourites for the title.

But despite their prominent position in the African game, Morocco has won the tournament only once, and that was almost half a century ago. They have been heavily fancied at the last four editions but failed to make it beyond the quarter-finals.

Home advantage should improve their chances, but sell-out stadiums and a fanatical home crowd could also prove intimidating, combined with the responsibility of living up to all the organisational effort that has gone into the tournament.

“We have to win the Cup of Nations,” said coach Walid Regragui at a last press conference last month.

"At home, we’ll be tough to play against, we’ve proven that. We’ve progressed and rejuvenated the team,” he said of the disappointment of the last-16 defeat by South Africa at the last finals two years ago.

“We’ve integrated young players while maintaining our core strengths. We are coming into this tournament with confidence, but nothing is guaranteed."

Sparkling stadiums

Morocco will be co-hosting the 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Spain, and the Cup of Nations will benefit from nine stadiums in six cities, a first for the African championship.

Morocco’s first three games are at the newly refurbished Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, with a capacity of 68,700, where the opening game and final will be played.

There is a rebuilt 75,000-seater stadium in Tangier that will also be used up to the semi-finals, plus venues in Agadir, Casablanca, Fes and Marrakech.

Morocco will face a stiff examination from a formidable field -- half of the 24 teams have won the Cup of Nations previously, and seven of them qualified for next year’s World Cup.

Defending champions Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal lead the West African challenge, while from the north of the continent, Algeria and Egypt are also legitimate contenders.

Egypt have won the event a record seven times, but the last was in 2010, and this tournament is likely to be the last chance for Mohamed Salah to finally add honours at the national-team level to his impressive club resume.

His controversial outburst at Liverpool earlier this month will add to the scrutiny he faces in Morocco.

There are no newcomers in the field, though both Botswana and Comoros will play at only their second tournament.

Comoros proved to be giant killers at the 2021 finals in Cameroon when they eliminated Ghana, and this time go straight into the fray in the opening game against Morocco on Sunday.