Renard, Morocco prepared for AFCON test

Morocco coach Herve Renard admitted to being drawn against teams he would have preferred to avoid in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations group stage.

The Frenchman’s team will face his former side, defending champions Ivory Coast, DR Congo and Togo in Group C in Gabon next year.

Also awaiting Renard is Claude Le Roy, who is in charge of Togo.

“It’s a very tough group. If I had to choose teams to avoid before the draw, I would’ve chosen some of the teams in our group,” he said.

“This is football and this is how the draw wants it to be. We will have to prepare ourselves very well.

“There will be an important emotional value but we will have to ignore all that because we will face Cote d’Ivoire which is very difficult especially when you have had the chance to know these players, and it is technically the same group. It will be tough but we have to be competitors.

“The match against Togo will be even harder on me during the 90 minutes but I will have to forget all what this man [Le Roy] has done for me and do everything to win over.

“He has given me so much in my life and not just in football, but how to evolve as a man. I think I will need a lot of time to speak just of the good things that Claude has brought to my life but that is not today’s topic.

“Let’s concentrate on the tough matches.”

The tournament is scheduled to be held from January 14 to February 5 next year.

Group A: Gabon, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau
Group B: Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Zimbabwe
Group C: Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Morocco, Togo
Group D: Ghana, Mali, Egypt, Uganda