Amine Harit: Heart on his sleeve

Amine, how excited are you for the World Cup?

I just can’t express how excited I am. You don’t get the chance to play in a World Cup every year. It’s a momentous occasion. We also mustn’t forget that Morocco have not competed for 20 years. Now we have the opportunity to travel to Russia and take part. So we all just can’t wait.

What sort of level are your team at?

For me, there aren’t many African teams who are better than us. That wasn’t the case over the last few years, though. I really believe that the team we have now is very solid, with some high quality players.

How well do you think you can do in a group with Portugal, Spain and Iran?

Spain and Portugal are of course the favourites. That’s clear and unsurprising. But at the end of the day, it’s football. It’s played with your head and your heart on your sleeve. It all depends on what kind of character you show. We don’t need to look at what others are doing, rather focus entirely on ourselves. Every one of us must give it everything.

Who are the key players in your team?

I think everyone would agree: our captain Mehdi Benatia is a superb defender, who is very important for us. But I’d name other players too: Younes Belhanda, Nabir Dirar or Hakim Ziyech. They all play for top clubs. Naturally, we don’t have a Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. But team spirit is absolutely crucial in such a tournament. Sure, individual quality is important. But even more so is the need to work well as a group. You’re together for four weeks or longer. It’s not easy to gel as a team in such a time frame. You never know what will happen.