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Morocco learn power of positive thinking
 Visakhapatnam,
India, August 12, 2005 - Morocco's head coach, Maan
Abdellaoui, had several reasons to be cheerful as prepared
for the long journey home. First, Morocco had just won their
first game in Pool A after four straight defeats. Second,
the victory had come against a Volleyball power in Serbia
and Montenegro. And third, his players had realised the
power of positive thinking at the world level.
So no wonder he had a big smile on his face on Thursday
night. "We are very happy, not just to win but to play
against Serbia and Montenegro," he said. "They are a very
strong nation of Volleyball, and all the Moroccan people who
are interested in Volleyball follow this nation in the World
League."
After starting their campaign with a 3-0 defeat by India,
Morocco ended it with a 3-2 victory over the Serbs, but
still finished at the bottom of Pool A.
Explaining the turnaround in form, Abdellaoui said: "In the
match against India there were two problems.
"The first was that it was our first match, against India in
India. Even though we tried to approach this match with a
clear head, psychologically it was very difficult.
"Second, we did not have any information about India. We
thought India would be very good because we met them in 2003
in Thailand, but they were not so strong."
The Morocco coach said his players had learned a valuable
lesson from the likes of Brazil and the Netherlands
regarding motivation.
"Any team that is not fully motivated in a game will not win,"
he said. "You look at Brazil and the Netherlands and the
players are very motivated to play, and they play for every
point.
"It is not about height and jumping; it is psychological.
"The Moroccan team wanted to win their last international
junior match because tomorrow we are seniors and we wanted
to finish positively."
He also praised the attitude of the local fans, who gave
Morocco their full backing as under-dogs against the Serbs.
"The public is very nice, very sporting. You are gentle
people, and we are happy to be in India and meet the Indian
people." |
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