September 18, 2022
The Morocco Botola Pro 1 is the highest level of football in Morocco and consists of 16 teams who typically play each other home and away between August and May each season. The 2022/23 competition has reached round 3.
Since independence in 1956, the title has been won 22 times by Wydad Athletic Club from Casasblanca, with fellow Casablanca side Raja the next most successful with 12 titles. Raja have also won the Moroccan cup 8 times. After last winning the title in 2019/2020, they have finished runners-up in the past two seasons, behind Wydad on both occasions.
The Botola Pro 1, known for Sponsorship reasons as the Botola Pro Inwi, after a Telecom company, is the highest ranked league in African Confederation, ahead of Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia as North African sides continue to dominate the African club competitions.
Sides in the Botola Pro 1 are permitted to sign 5 overseas players, although only three are allowed on the pitch at any one time.
Raja share the Stade Mohamad V stadium in Casablanca with Wydad AC, which has a capacity of either 45,000 or 67,000 depending on which source you refer to. It was never specified which of the Moroccan giants side Rick Blaine or Captain Renault supported…..
Unusually in Morocco, Raja are a members owned club, and along with Wydad they are the only two original members of the Moroccan top division to never have been relegated.
Raja’s traditional colours are all green with white socks, and they are known as the Green Eagles.
Raja have been one of the most successful sides in CAF club competitions, having won the Champions League three times ( in 1989, 1997 & 1999 ) and the second tier Confederations Cup twice ( in 2018 when they beat DR Congo side AS Vita in the final, and 2021 when Algerian side JS Kabylie were overcome ).
Moghreb Atletico Tetouan ( MAT ) play in the city of Tetouan on the north coast of the country on the Mediterranean coast, 60km east of Tangiers. It was formerly the capital of the Spanish Protectorate until independence in 1956, and now has a population of approximately 380,000. The journey to Casablanca is around 365km, or 4 and a half hours by road.
The side was originally formed by supporters of Atletico Madrid, so their home colours have traditionally been red and white stripes, with blue shorts. Today though, they were in a change strip of all white with red socks.
Home is the 10,000 capacity Saniat Rmel, although work has commenced on building a new stadium with the potential to host 40,000 spectators.
MAT won their first Moroccan championship in 2012, when a record breaking 30,000 fans travelled to Rabat to see them clinch the title. A second Championship was claimed in 2014 when they pipped Raja to the title on the final day. However, they were relegated at the end of the 2020/21 Botola Pro 1 season, but bounced back at the first attempt to regain their elite status.
For the 2022/23 season they have an entirely Moroccan squad, and started the season with a 0-0 at Maghred de Fes, before winning the fierce local derby against Ittihad Tanger 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mohamad Kamal, after both sides had been reduced to 10 men.
Raja have made a disappointing start to the season, beginning with a 2-2 draw at home to Olympique de Safi, after being 0-2 behind after 20 minutes, but recovered thanks to goals from Nahiri and Harkass. It got worse in their second match, falling to a 0-1 away defeat to newly promoted Union de Touraga. They are yet to start their CAF Champions League campaign, facing Niger side AS Nigelec over two legs in the Second Round in October.
The Raja starting line-up for this evening contained three overseas players, namely Togo midfielder Roger Aholou ( 4 caps ), Algerian forward Raouf Benguit ( 3 caps ) and Gabon striker Axel Meye ( 32 caps and played in three matches in the 2012 London Olympics ). Goal-keeper and captain Anas Zniti has 19 caps and was in Morocco’s most recent national squad, whilst substitute Zakaria Hadraf had 2 caps. Midfielder Mohamed Zrida was their most valuable player on Transfermrkt at £1.26M.
Ticket prices for today’s match ranged between 50-150 Dirhams ( £5-12 ) although tickets for zone 1, presumably including match-day hospitality, were 700 Dirhams ( £59 ). Prices for this game were higher than for a regular fixture as Tetouan are considered to be one of the big 5 in Moroccan football ( along with Wydad, Fes and FAR from Rabat ), with prices for other matches costing 50-130 Dirhams ( £4-11 ) with zone 1 at 600 DH ( £50 ).
Temperatures at the 17.00 local time kick-off were around 23 degrees on a dry day. The match was live streamed on YouTube on the Arryadia TV channel, and at its peak attracted over 163K viewers, and 370K in total !
Bet365 made Raja 33/100 favourites, with Tetouan at 6/1 and the draw at 7/2.
Both sets of fans were in good voice pre-kick-off, with a jumping packed away-end of Tetouan supporters, with the rest of stadium, virtually all in green or white, generating a fabulous atmosphere. The grass pitch looked in excellent condition.
With less than 2 minutes on the clock Raja received an almost immediate set-back to their initial game-plan when the highly rated Zrida collided with team-mate Madkour and MAT winger Kamal in attempting to win a header and came out worse, being carried off on a stretcher with what looked like a dislocated shoulder. Zakaria Habti came on in his place.
Raja players continued to be in the wars, with Meye getting an accidental kick to the head as Marour attempted an overhead clearance, but fortunately Meye was able to continue.
The first shot on target arrived in the 9th minute, as MAT’s Kamal was able to turn just outside the Raja area but his low, left-footed shot lacked power and was easily gathered by Zniti.
Three minutes later Raja’s Khabba chased a long ball out of defence but was beaten by the bounce and ran past the ball, allowing MAT keeper El Filali to control and play to a team-mate.
Both sides were indulging in nice passing football, but both were also prepared to launch long balls into the channels behind the back four. However, in the first twenty minutes there had been little for either set of fans to get excited about, not that this appeared to inhibit the supporters’ enthusiasm.
Some crunching tackles had been flying in without sanction, but finally the referee’s patience ran out and Raja’s Sabbar was the recipient of the first yellow card of the game after sending El Houari in to orbit.
Raja were nearly caught out in the 25th minute when a hopeful lob over the backline bounced up promisingly for El Hassnaoui, but Zniti was alert to advance off his line and head clear, although with hindsight he probably could have simply caught the ball.
The first good chance of the game came in the 27th minute, a long cross field ball from Habti on the right saw Raja left-back Badaoui sneak in unnoticed but after a good first touch he produced a defender’s finish to send the ball meekly across the face of the goal for a goal-kick.
A comedy moment occured in the 32rd minute. Tetouan keeper El Filali was dallying in distributing a back-pass, and Meye slid in to challenge and the ball ricochet off for a throw-in to Raja. As El Filali rolled around on the floor injured, Raja took a quick throw-in which the referee permitted to proceed, and with Raja threatening to attack, the wounded keeper recovered and got back into position. However, it was all in vain as the Green Eagles capitalized on the visitors’ failure to clear Badaoui’s chip into the penalty area, and Meye’s attempt to control the loose ball sent it towards Habti, and substitute impressively swept home left-footed on the half volley from just inside the 18 yard line. The celebrations of the home supporters became even more fanatical !
Tatouan responded well to falling behind, forcing two corners and Zniti had to be alert to gather two probing through balls ahead of the attacker, but Raja headed down the tunnel at half-time with the lead.
With less than one minute of the second half played, Habti, Khabba amd Meye all combined to give Khabba a sight of goal, but his first-time effort was straight at El Filali, who saved easily. Beguit then shot hurriedly wildly wide from distance.
However, Tetouan were back on level terms after 55 minutes. Zniti flapped weakly at Ferdaoussi’s free-kick, and the ball bounced to Kamal, now wearing a white headband, to rifle left-footed into the far corner from 12 yards to send the MAT fans into ecstasy and temporarily silence the home supporters.
As Raja tried to raise the tempo, the match became frenetic and scrappy, and Raja did get the ball in the net in the 69th minute, but Khabba was clearly a couple of yards offside when he headed home Hadraf’s ball into the area.
With 12 minutes remaining, Tetouan won a free-kick near the left-hand by-line after Madkour wrestled Arbidi to the floor to stop a promising run, and Madkour was perhaps fortunate not to see a second yellow card. The free-kick though sailed harmlessly over the bar.
In the 82nd minute, Raja substitute Benjdida’s volley forced El Filali into a flying save, but the referee had already blown for a free-kick on the edge of the area for a push on Meye. After a 2 minute delay whilst the referee restored order and the defensive wall was set-up, Habti put the free-kick well over the bar.
El Forsy appealed in vain for a handball penalty when the ball appeared to hit the defender on the chest and knee. A few minutes later, Habti’s threatening flick into the danger area was brilliantly read by centre-back Marour, who intercepted and cleared to safety. A fabulous tackle by Ferdaoussi denied Habti just when it looked like he would break clear on goal.
With two minutes of added on time played, Meye managed to get on the end of Benjdida’s clever cross, but his header was straight at El Filali, and the referee also awarded a foul for a push on Marour, and he was probably also offside !
Raja won a corner in the fifth minute on injury time but it was headed high and wide, and the final whistle blew immediately after.
The match statistics showed that possession during the match was split 50/50 and whilst Raja gave the impression they were dominating the game, they created very few chances, and rarely looked likely of getting the better of a well-marshalled Tatouan defence, in which Marour gave an outstanding display. The game was generally of a very high quality, with lots of technical skill, but ultimately the defences looked stronger than the attacks.
Without a win in three league games, the Raja coach will already be under pressure, especially as they are already 4 points adrift of Wydad. MAT looked a good side though, and they should feature in the upper echelons of the division by the end of the season.
Raja Club Athletic : Zniti – Madkour, Hadhoudi, Harkass, Badaoui – Aholou ( El Forsy ), Zrida ( Habti ), Sabbar – Benguit ( Hadraf ), Meye, Khabba ( Benjdida )
Moghreb Atletico Tetouan : El Filali – El Mahasni, Marour, Lamrabat, Arbidi – El Houari ( Benkajjou ), Oussarhan ( Bouadli ), Ferdaoussi, El Hassnaoui, Kamal - Abdelouahab
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