Ammouta: We can kick Pachuca

• Wydad manager Lhoussaine Ammouta reflects on his team’s CAF Champions League win
• He explains how most his players are now looking brazen to UAE 2017
• The Moroccan tactician shares his thoughts on initial opponents Pachuca

When Wydad kicked off in a 2017 CAF Champions League, few likely that their track would finish in glory. The naysayers were shortly left eating their disproportion as Lhoussaine Ammouta and his players valid everybody wrong, lifting a prize interjection to a plain defence, clinical conflict and all-round application. It was a overwhelming success, and one that due most to a manager able of removing a best out of his charges.

That story of delight could so simply have been different, however. The Moroccan outfit’s track to a pretension was dirty with obstacles, and their debate roughly finished before it had begun. “In a initial round, we played opposite Gabonese side Mounana,” says Ammouta, in an disdainful talk with FIFA.com. “We flog them (1-0) in Casablanca, though we had to get by a chastisement shoot-out to validate over there.”

Wydad were afterwards drawn in a tough organisation along with Egyptian bar Al Ahly, Cameroonian hopefuls Coton Sport and Zambia’s Zanaco. Despite a knowledge of their territory rivals, Wydad defied a contingency by clinching tip spot.

“We won a initial compare opposite Coton Sport and afterwards mislaid opposite Zanaco and Al Ahly,” recalls Ammouta. “That left us in third place and wanting to win a final 3 games to qualify. Thanks to God, we managed to flog Al Ahly (2-0) and afterwards won by a same scoreline divided to Coton Sport. We finished off by removing a tough (1-0) feat opposite Zanaco, who were tip of a group, and that hermetic a place in a subsequent round.”

Champions deposed
If Wydad were anticipating for an easier plea during a start of a knockout phase, they were shortly to be disappointed. Instead, Ammouta and Co were pitted opposite a holders themselves, Mamelodi Sundowns. “Sundowns were a reigning champions and had several gifted internationals in their ranks,” explains a Wydad coach. “It was a formidable quarter-final. We mislaid by a singular idea divided though won by a same scoreline during home, before going by on penalties.”

Even that was not their stiffest test. For Ammouta, Wydad’s biggest plea came in a semi-finals. “It was a tie opposite USM Alger, who have a fearsome attack, a gifted midfield and top-qualify full-backs. We were propitious adequate to get a pull in Algeria, and afterwards we got dual early goals in a lapse game. Amine Atouchi’s red label authorised them to revoke a deficit, though we scored a third idea in a shutting moments to soothe a pressure.”

The home side indispensable all their mental strength to emerge victorious, and their resilience was called on again in a final. “We faced Al Ahly after their large win (6-2) opposite Etoile du Sahel, and we were personification during their Borg El Arab stadium,” says Ammouta. “We conceded a idea in a second minute, though a strength of impression authorised us to equalize in a 15th. That idea gave us confidence, notwithstanding Mohammed Ounnajem, one of a best players, picking adult an injury.

“The vigour was heated in a lapse diversion and we struggled to start with opposite a well-organised side. We strike a crossbar and afterwards non-stop a scoring by Walid El Karti after a pass by Achraf Bencherki. Thanks to a support of a fans, we finished adult winning a title.”

Representing Morocco and Africa
As continental champions, Wydad now face a complicated shortcoming of representing Africa during a FIFA Club World Cup, that Ammouta considers one of a excellent tournaments in football. “It’s an honour for me, as a Moroccan coach, and for us, as a Moroccan club, to take partial in a Club World Cup,” he says. “It’s a foe that brings together teams from each continent, including Real Madrid. It’s also a shortcoming since we have to live adult to a customary of Moroccan and African football.”

His side flog off in a United Arab Emirates opposite Pachuca, and Ammouta has already started to analyse a Mexican club. “They’ve seemed in this foe 5 times formerly and they have really good players in midfield and attack,” he says. “But we still consider Wydad can win, interjection to a potential.”

Beyond that initial challenge, Wydad are aiming high. “We’re targeting a final,” says Ammouta. “We can’t means to make too many mistakes since a teenager sum make all a disproportion in football. Our players acquired lots of knowledge in a Champions League and now wish to pointer for clubs abroad. They can uncover what they’re able of in this foe and locate a eye of a large European teams. Their enterprise to swell ought to assistance us get good formula in a Emirates.”

The match
Pachuca-Wydad (9 December, 17:00 internal time), Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

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Wydad Casablanca will paint Africa during a 2017 #ClubWC
A demeanour during their CAF Champions League success
https://t.co/2xLwKVRCXe pic.twitter.com/yt7ivmrQyU

— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) November 6, 2017

Article source: http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/y=2017/m=11/news=ammouta-we-can-beat-pachuca-2921076.html