On the eve of Morocco’s match against Comoros this Sunday, December 21, at the Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat, Achraf Hakimi delivered a clear message at a press conference: this home AFCON is not just any edition. For his fourth participation, the captain of the Atlas Lions emphasized the unique emotion of playing \u201cin front of the people, family, and friends,\u201d and the responsibility that comes with it. \u201cIt is special for all Moroccans. It\u2019s an additional motivation to play, defend the country, and give everything for the jersey,\u201d he stated, determined to set an example within the group.<\/p>\n
The PSG defender also discussed his form following his injury, recalling the strong choice he made to not miss the AFCON in Morocco. Hakimi explained that he immediately informed the staff that he was ready to do whatever it takes to be there, even though the decision regarding his playing time is not up to him. \u201cI am ready to fight for the team\u2026 if I play, it will be up to the coach,\u201d he hinted, while assuring that he feels ready and satisfied with the program he has followed for several weeks. Above all, he stressed one idea: the result comes before any personal consideration. \u201cIf I am not to play or play 20 minutes for the team to win, I sign up for that,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n
Beyond his own situation, Hakimi highlighted the management of the locker room and the balance to be found between veterans and young players, believing that this AFCON represents a rare opportunity for the entire group. \u201cMy role, as captain, is to set an example\u2026 we, the veterans, must motivate all the players and let them know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,\u201d he concluded, already setting the final goal: to see Morocco lift the trophy on January 18, the day of the final. In a country buoyed by the hope of a historic title, the captain laid the groundwork: ambition will be collective, and commitment total.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the eve of Morocco’s match against Comoros this Sunday, December 21, at the Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat, Achraf Hakimi delivered a clear message at a press conference: this home AFCON is not just any edition. For his fourth participation, the captain of the Atlas Lions emphasized the unique emotion of playing \u201cin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[1381],"class_list":{"0":"post-333761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afcon-en","8":"tag-achraf-hakimi"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333761"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333875,"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333761\/revisions\/333875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountakhab.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}