Celebrated coaches Avram Grant and Walid Regragui on collision course in tonight’s Zambia v Morocco clash

* Grant, 68, faces Regragui, 20 years his junior — but there are clear echoes in their career journeys

* This is Morocco with an excellent past but I think the current team looks the best they have ever had

* I watched them a lot at the World Cup and could see how well coached they were

Maravi Express

Zambia and Morocco have two points from two games so far at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Côte d’Ivoire 2023 and on the touchline for the last group match tonight will stand two coaching pioneers of the Mena region.

To one, the garlands keep being offered — Walid Regragui, coach of Morocco, is the pathfinder for African and Arab football, a rising star whose horizons keep extending.

He’s been African club champion, with Wydad of Casablanca, and FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finalist within the last 18 months and if momentum and pedigree are still to be trusted at an AFCON — where hierarchy is under constant upstart challenge — the main continental title should be achievable before mid-February.

Up against Regragui is the worldliest coach at this AFCON, Avram Grant. He was a Nations Cup finalist in 2015, a UEFA Champions League finalist in 2008 and is now in charge of a Zambia confronting significant hurdles to make the knockout phase.

Grant, 68, faces what he calls “the best team in Africa and a fantastic young coach” and smiles at the comparison between himself and Regragui, 20 years his junior — but there are clear echoes in their career journeys.

In his mid 40s, Grant was suddenly making his name internationally as manager of his country. That is Israel, usually no more than light-middleweights in the UEFA zone the two have competed in since regional conflicts removed them from the Asian Football Confederation generations ago, but on his watch, they came tantalising close to making a World Cup finals.

The storied career that followed — at Chelsea, who he took to a Champions League final, lost on penalties; two further jobs in the English Premier League and stints in Serbia, Asia and Africa — has been nothing if not intrepid.

It has its significant, recurring anchors in Africa and the Middle East where in the last five years Grant, who grew up an Arabic speaker, has represented FIFA across various bridge-building projects.

Zambia’s preparation schedule took them to UAE – for a friendly against Egypt – to a training camp in Saudi Arabia and in Grant’s case, down an avenue of vivid recollections.

He casts his mind back to attending AFCON two decades ago, in Tunisia, and his shock at learning that, in Israel excitable headlines had appeared in the press about his being there all, a high-profile Israeli in a country with whom political relations were hostile: “I fielded calls from everywhere,” he remembers.

He ignored them, and enjoyed a tournament in which Morocco and the hosts contested the final and Morocco’s busy full-back, Walid Regragui, finished with a silver medal.

Grant knew of Regragui the player because he was a club colleague, at Spain’s Racing Santander, of Israeli internationals Dudu Aouate and Yossi Benayoun.

Of Regragui the coach, given the Morocco job less than three months before the Qatar World Cup, Grant beams: “Clearly he has a very good future, and an excellent present. And this is Morocco, a country with an excellent past but I think the current team looks the best they have ever had.

“I watched them a lot at the World Cup and could see how well coached they were. They have a great balance and they had a plan well suited to the players. They are a nice team to watch, with very few weaknesses, from the fantastic goalkeeper, Bono, all the way through.”

He admits, candidly, that Zambia against the continent’s number one-ranked team, top of Group F and already guaranteed a place in the last 16, looks an uneven contest.

“On paper, they are the better team, and they have players at the sort of clubs we would like to see more of our players playing for.”

Part of Grant’s challenge in the build-up to AFCON has been coaxing match sharpness from a number of Zambia’s players who are at clubs abroad but lacking playing time this season — playmaker Kings Kangwa is a case in point.

He’s at Red Star Belgrade, who were in the group phase of the UEFA Champions League but Kangwa, who scored Zambia’s goal in the 1-1 draw with DR Congo that began their AFCON, was involved for just seven minutes of that adventure.

A deeper trust is held in the perpetual sharpness, at least in the opposing penalty area of Patson Daka, the Leicester City striker, whose headed equaliser against Tanzania on Sunday kept Zambia’s hopes alive and, as important for their coach, “showed our character.”

At half time against Tanzania, Zambia trailed 1-0 and were down to 10 men following the greatly disputed sending off, for a second yellow card, of left-back Rodrick Kabwe.

Successive draws leave the onus on Zambia to chase a win tonight:  “It’s pressure but I thrive on pressure,” says Grant, whose AFCON back-catalogue has had plenty of it. In 2015, he took Ghana all the way to the final, a modern peak in the context of Ghana’s current status (they have just finished their group here with two points).

They lost to Côte d’Ivoire only after extra time and a marathon shoot-out in which 22 spot-kicks were needed to separate winner from runner-up.

“Penalties,” Grant smiles, about that night and Manchester United’s victory, via spot-kicks, over his Chelsea in the 2008 European Cup final, “are not my best friends.”

He looks at tonight’s opposition and he sees the modern model for African aspiration — the continent’s first FIFA World Cup semi-finalists.

According to the Opta Analyst, supercomputer’s predictions, Morocco have a 60.7% chance of victory in this game, compared to 18.5% for Zambia.

This will be the third encounter between Zambia and Morocco at the AFCON and both previous meetings were in the group stages — Morocco won 1-0 in 1986 before a 1-1 draw in 1998.

Their last encounter was in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in January 2021 in Cameroon, with Morocco winning 3-1 and Zambia have won none of their last 11 AFCON matches against North African teams (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia), drawing five and losing six.

Zambia have drawn eight of their last nine matches at the AFCON, losing the other against Cape Verde in 2015. They last drew all three of their group matches in 2013 when they were reigning champions.

Morocco are unbeaten in their last 10 AFCON group stage matches, winning eight and drawing two since losing to DR Congo in 2017.

Zambia have only conceded seven goals in their last 12 AFCON matches, although they’ve conceded in their last two. They haven’t gone three in a row without a clean sheet since between January 2008 and January 2010 (five in a row).

Seven of Morocco’s last nine AFCON goals have been scored via a set piece (two penalties, two direct free-kicks, one indirect free-kick and two corner goals), including their most recent goal against DR Congo via a corner.

Morocco have scored at least once in each of their last 11 games at the AFCON, their joint-longest run of scoring in the competition, also netting in their first 11 games between 1972 and 1978.

Patson Daka has been involved in both of Zambia’s goals at the Côte d’Ivoire 2023  (1 goal, 1 assist) and he’s the first Zambian player to score and assist at an AFCON tournament since 2012, when Christopher Katongo, Stoppila Sunzu and Rainford Kalaba all did so.

Achraf Hakimi has scored (3) or assisted (1) four of Morocco’s last eight goals at the AFCON and he’s created more chances (6) than any of his Moroccan teammates.

The scenario for Zambia is simple: they need to win to guarantee qualification for the last 16 and draw won’t necessarily eliminate them, but DR Congo are favourites against Tanzania, and three points in total will leave it touch-and-go as to whether they qualify as one of the best third-placed teams.

The Atlas Lions found the going much harder against a competitive DR Congo side, having to make do with a point. Achraf Hakimi got his side off to a fast start with a goal after five minutes and 43 seconds – the quickest goal for Morocco at the AFCON since Soufiane Alloudi scored against Namibia in 2008 in the first and fifth minute of the game – but Silas Katompa Mvumpa netted a deserved equaliser.

Morocco certainly rode their luck, with DR Congo’s Cédric Bakambu missing a first-half penalty.

With four points, Morocco have already qualified for the last 16 but will want to ensure they finish top of Group F to give themselves the best possible draw.—Info from thenationalnews.com & Opta Analyst