Morocco poised to qualify for african nations football cup

Morocco, which tops its preliminary group 2, is poised to qualify for next year's edition of the African Nations football cup, to be co-hosted next year by Ghana and Nigeria.

Morocco will play its last qualifying match on Saturday against Guinea in Rabat.

Morocco should have clinched its place in the finals in April but was surprisingly held at home by Togo (1-1).

Saturday's encounter against Guinea presents Morocco with another opportunity and should it win it will finish top of the group. Morocco goes into the game with a strong psychological boost after last month's 2-1 away win over the Netherlands in an international friendly.

Morocco's coach, Henri Michel (France) said his group is upbeat, noting that the 1-1 draw against Togo was only an accident.

Michel knows that the match against Guinea will be tough as the Guineans will come to Rabat to grab victory to stay in the race for Group two's second qualification ticket.

Guinea will play the last qualifying match against Togo.

"Morocco should not err in Saturday's match," if it is to join Tunisia which already booked qualification ticket thanks to a 100 % success in all preliminary matches, Michel said.

Morocco's coach warned that Guinea's strong striker Titi Camara may cause trouble to the Moroccan defence which will lack its captain Noureddine Naybet of Spanish first league club of Deportivo La Coruna (booked twice) and Rachid Nekrouz of Italy's Bari club (injured).

Michel is however confident that the Moroccan team has defenders who are able to make up for Naybet and Nekrouze's absence.