You deserve it, Wydad

About the Moroccan national team – written by Badr Al-Din Al-Idrissi
If national football has, for decades, imitated Wydad Athletic Club as the nation’s honorary trust in African football forums, just like the clubs that are also surrounded by this heavy responsibility, then football has not made a mistake in choosing, because Wydad has always been a vehicle for the nation, marching towards the summit, a team that stands. Standing tall in the face of adversity, a team that has been proud of its Morocco over time.
This Wydad was invited to be an ambassador for Moroccan football, in the first edition of the African League, and he was indeed trustworthy, and despite the weight of the trust, he carried it with great fortitude, and today he is one step away from writing a new chapter in the history of his glory, when he plays next Sunday in Pretoria. The second leg of the dream final, benefiting, and even strengthening, from its small victory, here in Casablanca, by two goals to one.
We can read this final chapter of the African League, of which Wydad represents one of its golden sides, by recalling the victory in the first leg over Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa by two goals to one, from many angles. We may see in Wydad receiving a goal in the first leg here at the Mohammed V Complex, a cacophonous cloud disturbing the peace. The dream, of course, given the tremendous momentum that Mamelodi enjoys whenever he plays on Loftus Versfeld Stadium, there in Pretoria. We may see in Wydad copying the same way it managed the return match against Esperance in Tunisia, an attempt to commit suicide, and we may go beyond this and that, and observe Wydad has tactical gaps through which the yellow and destructive hurricane of Mamelodi could pass, but what we cannot disagree on is that the Red Knights will approach the return match next Sunday with great resolve and with great ambition to write history, just as is their custom, so we do not rule out seeing Wydad have wings of fire. Flying to repel the hurricane, we may see hoses extinguishing fires, and we may see it have a tied heart that does not shake under the influence of any external factors, and even if we are certain that the most ferocious and contrived external factors, we will not find any effect in the decisive match, due to the high spirit of sportsmanship enjoyed by the Mamelodi fans. .
Even if Wydad is traveling to a stadium that it knows well, since last May it won its qualification for the final match of the African Champions League with a positive draw against Mamelodi (2-2), and it is carrying the travel increase, winning by one goal and receiving an own goal, and missing its dean, leader and inspiration, Yahya Gibran. He, who was struck by the ball that hit his hand in the first leg, is fully aware that deciding the second leg with the result that guarantees him the title of the first edition of the African League requires a very intelligent tactical approach, very masterful management, and also protection against free mistakes that… Its taxes are often high, because the Mamelodi Sundowns club is good at lurking in stray defenses that are isolated from the rest of the lines.
There will be no better scenario than for Wydad, its rival, Mamelodi, to feel that it is coming to South Africa, not to defend its small lead or to search for a draw with zero, but to score a goal that will kill the match, even though we are certain that Wydad will not be unable to score there in Portoria, in the presence of distinguished players and even attackers whose awakening at the crucial moment we are all waiting for, we are confident that the best way to prevent Mamelodi’s overwhelming attacking torrent is to avoid piling up in the defensive zone, and to avoid all mistakes at the level of all types of control, individual control, collective control, and zonal control. Making sure to get the ball out of the defensive zone in a good and smooth way helps win the battle of transitions, which will be the mother of all battles in the midfield.
No one among us underestimates the difficulty of the task and the weight of the responsibility, but we are all confident that Wydad is qualified to achieve the dream of all of us, to see a Moroccan team climb to the top of the podium, imitating the championship crown.
Let Wydad’s players and knights do what they can, for we have confidence in them, and we trust in God.