{"id":2518,"date":"2021-01-21T12:13:52","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2518"},"modified":"2021-01-21T12:13:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T12:13:54","slug":"champions-give-notice-of-intent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/01\/21\/champions-give-notice-of-intent\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions Give Notice of Intent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (January 18th<\/sup> 2021)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Champions Open Defence<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Morocco\u2019s A-team \u2013 the locally based Atlas Lions \u2013 opened the defence of their African Nations Championship (CHAN) by outclassing Togo, conquerors of Nigeria, 1-0. Wydad Casablanca\u2019s defensive midfielder, Yahya Jabrane, scored the winner after 72 minutes to send Morocco to the top of Group C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jabrane is one of the 6th<\/sup> CHAN winners. Like record goal-scorer, Ayoub el Kaabi, Jabrane earned a move out of Morocco after the last CHAN and moved back to play in this one too. Jabrane played for Hassania d\u2019Agadir in 2018. Shortly after the CHAN he moved to the United Arab Emirates to play for Dibba al-Furaira. Six months later, he was back in Morocco\u2019s Botola League with Wydad Athletic Club (WAC) Casablanca. He wasn\u2019t the only Moroocan CHAN winner to move out of the country and back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burkina Faso \u2013 the team which eliminated Ghana \u2013 drew 0-0 with Uganda in the second match of that Group. The defending champions will be no push overs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Local Base<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Atlas Lions hosted and won the 6th<\/sup> CHAN in 2018. One of the main purposes of the tournament, according to former President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Ahmad Ahmad, was to highlight locally based players to a wider audience, especially abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim was to help talented players who had slipped under the scouting radar to showcase their skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the flaws was demonstrated before a ball was kicked. In 2018 Badr Benoun captained Morocco. He went on to play for the full Atlas Lions as did other teammates. Benoun would surely have been a fixture in Morocco\u2019s defence of their CHAN title, but on the eve of the 7th<\/sup> CHAN Benoun joined Pitso Mosimane\u2019s African Champions, Al-Ahly from Raja Casablanca. He is no longer eligible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Star Was Born<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ayoub el Kaabi shone at Renaissance Berkane in the 2017-18. It earned him call ups to the CHAN team and also the full national team. He was undoubtedly the star of the 6th<\/sup> CHAN. El Kaabi set a new scoring record of 9 goals in the tournament, almost doubling the previous record held by Zambian Given Singluma in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singulama\u2019s record, set in the Ivory Coast, was 5. El Kaabi took it apart. It helped to earn the Moroccan winger and forward a lucrative move to Hebei China Fortune. It didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Kaabi\u2019s back in Moroccan football, playing for Wydad Athletic Club (WAC) Casablanca. That made him eligible for the 7th<\/sup> CHAN as well. Other members of the CHAN winning squad are in Cameroon to defend their title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abedliah Hafidi, Zakaria Hadraf, Anas Zniti, Walid el Karti, el Kaabi and Yahya Jabrane<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Ultimate Aim<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Coached by former Moroccan international Jamal Sellami, the local Atlas Lions delivered in style. Sellami had an unsuccessful spell in charge of the Under-17 team \u2013 Thomas Libih\u2019s Cameroon lifted the trophy in Tanzania \u2013 before taking over Raja Casablanca in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His local Atlas Lions not only won the 6th<\/sup> CHAN but some went on to establish themselves in the full national team. This is the ultimate point of the tournament \u2013 or should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (January 18th 2021) Champions Open Defence Morocco\u2019s A-team \u2013 the locally based Atlas Lions \u2013 opened the defence of their [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2519,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518\/revisions\/2519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}