Verbeek backs Morocco to surprise
24 July 2012 18:22
Morocco coach Pim Verbeek believes his side could spring a surprise against group favourites Spain at the London Olympics.
The Dutch coach insists his team, who play Honduras first up, will take their group stage matches one at a time and believes the African country are capable of catching Luis Milla's men off guard.
"You have to play Spain anyway, in the tournament the first game is important because you don’t know how good the team are," Verbeek told reporters.
"So we agree that we have to focus on Honduras, that is the most important game and that's where we go from."
The 56-year-old feels that Morocco can test Milla's fancied team, however, and targeted a place in the next round.
"We all know that Spain is one of the favourites, but that doesn't mean that we automatically think that we cannot beat Spain," he said.
"So we will try to qualify for the next round, we will try to win every game, that is the target and we will see if Spain are better than us."
Verbeek felt that the experience of Morocco's European-based players would stand them in good stead in Great Britain.
"It has nothing to do with the Moroccan league but our players in Europe are at big clubs, they have grown up in good professional academies, so they know what it is to play international football," he explained.
"We are pleased to have players such as Zakaria Labyad who played with PSV Eindhoven and made a big transfer."
