{"id":28869,"date":"2026-06-12T21:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/?p=28869"},"modified":"2026-06-12T21:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T21:51:12","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-african-champions-morocco-ready-for-brazil-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/fr\/fifa-world-cup-2026-african-champions-morocco-ready-for-brazil-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup 2026: African Champions Morocco Ready for Brazil Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Angu Lesley<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Football writer kick442.com &#8211; Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>African champions Morocco will take centre stage on Saturday night when they face five-time world champions Brazil in one of the standout fixtures of the FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage.<\/p>\n<p>The highly anticipated encounter, scheduled for close to midnight, brings together two ambitious sides who have exchanged words of respect ahead of the clash.<\/p>\n<p>Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti, preparing for his first FIFA World Cup match, praised the Atlas Lions and warned his players against underestimating the African champions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Morocco are a great team with complete players performing in Europe. If we do not defend and attack well, we will be in trouble,\u201d said the experienced Italian tactician, who also described his World Cup debut as \u201can honour and a great responsibility.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Brazil star Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior also acknowledged Morocco\u2019s growing status on the global stage, highlighting the quality within Mohamed Ouahbi\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Morocco have become a model for many countries in Africa and beyond. They have talented players like Brahim Diaz and Achraf Hakimi, and they are always capable of surprises at the World Cup,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi, fresh from celebrating UEFA Champions League success, insisted the Atlas Lions are determined to go even further than their historic run in Qatar 2022.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We are taking it one game at a time. Our objective is to make more than 44 million Moroccans and the whole of Africa proud,\u201d said the defender, who admitted he would relish the opportunity to face Neymar Jr.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Head coach Mohamed Ouahbi struck a confident note ahead of the encounter.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We are not afraid of Brazil. We respect them and I am sure they respect us too. My players are ready. We are Morocco,\u201d he declared, before joking that he had learned some of Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s secrets from books about the Brazilian coach.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With Africa\u2019s reigning champions facing one of football\u2019s greatest powers, Saturday night\u2019s showdown promises to be one of the highlights of the FIFA World Cup 2026.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Angu Lesley Football writer kick442.com &#8211; Cameroon African champions Morocco will take centre&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":28870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,25,5,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-fifa","category-football","category-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>FIFA World Cup 2026: African Champions Morocco Ready for Brazil Showdown - KICK442 Sport News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kick442.com\/fr\/fifa-world-cup-2026-african-champions-morocco-ready-for-brazil-showdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FIFA World Cup 2026: African Champions Morocco Ready for Brazil Showdown - KICK442 Sport News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Angu Lesley Football writer kick442.com &#8211; 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