Morocco coach Rachid Taoussi is hoping to gain an element of revenge when his team face South Africa on Sunday in an Africa Cup of Nations Group A clash.
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Bafana Bafana beat Morocco 3-1 in the final group match of the 2002 edition of the tournament, knocking the Atlas Lions out of the competition. Eleven years later the two teams face off in a similar situation, with Morocco needing a win to ensure they progress while their opponents are just one point away from the quarter-finals.
Taoussi is determined to ensure that it is Morocco who come out on the right side of the equation this time around.
"There's going to be a winner and a loser," he said. "South Africa will go two ways - they will play defence and attack. For us we will try and put the pressure on them and not let them put the pressure on us.
"We were in the same position in Mali in 2002 and we can get a different result this time in South Africa."
Morocco produced a disappointing showing last time out against Cape Verde in which the North African outfit needed a late goal to secure a 1-1 draw. While the result put the team under great pressure heading into their final match, Taoussi insists that he always had an eye on the encounter with South Africa as a must-win match.
"Of course this game is very important for us. More than that it is the final game," he said.
"Whatever the result was with Cape Verde, the game with South Africa was always going to be the most important one so we have prepared ourselves for it. We have prepared ourselves, tactically, physically and most importantly psychologically and we are ready for it.
"When we did our analysis of the last game we saw that there were some leaks in the last game. It was both individual mistakes and preparation for the match. We have prepared ourselves in a good way to play against South Africa and it will be the same as the one we played against Mozambique [in qualifying where Morocco overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit]."
While the form guide would suggest that South Africa hold the advantage, Taoussi is quietly confident.
"Football is not only about logic, there are times when things turn out
differently from what they may appear," he remarked. "It's a feeling that you have. And when I slept last night, I had a good feeling that we can do it."
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