Wydad Casablanca head coach, Mohamed Amine Benhachem, beleives they have a chance to leave a mark at the upcoming 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
The Moroccan side will face Manchester City, Juventus, and Al Ain of the UAE.
Speaking to AFP, Amine Benhachem, who replaced Rulani Mokwena as the head coach for the side remains confident in their chances.
“To honour national football first and foremost and to defend the club’s history in continental and international arenas,” said Benhachem regarding the goal of participating in the global event in its new format.
He added, “Wydad has a distinguished history, both locally and continentally, and this is what we will defend in the United States, taking into account the difficulty of the task against established teams, especially Manchester City with its star-studded squad and its great coach, Pep Guardiola.”
Wydad prepared for the World Cup with two friendly matches, which they lost at home by the same score (0-1) against Sevilla of Spain and Porto of Portugal.
“In the first match (against Sevilla), I didn’t have a clear game plan to play and compete in the Club World Cup because I had some significant constraints in the team’s composition,” Benhachem said after the second friendly match.
He added, “Today, I laid out the plan we want to rely on in the World Cup. We played on counterattacks and succeeded in some of them, but our speed and final (decisive) pass let us down.”
“The players have demonstrated their ambitions, like Fahad Moufi. Our goal after these two friendly matches is to restore balance and try to please Wydad fans, and even Moroccan fans, just as the national team did when it reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup,” he added, “why not dream?”
He added, “In the future, we will be better off with the new signings. There is a significant shortage and we are working to fill it. There are constraints, including players who are still with their clubs and have not been released yet, and players we are still negotiating with. This week will be decisive in the signings we will complete to accompany us in the World Cup.”
Wydad will begin their campaign against Manchester City on June 18 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, hoping to escape with minimal damage.
They will then face Juventus on June 22 at the same stadium, hoping to capitalize on the Old Lady’s recent decline in form.
They will then end the first round against Al Ain on June 26 at Audi Field in Washington, DC, in an Arab summit that could prove decisive for both teams in reaching the round of 16, should either team manage to snatch points in their first two matches.
