Maya: Repeating Morocco's achievement is difficult for Qatar.

Moroccan striker Ryan Maïe, who won the top scorer and champion titles in the Cypriot football league with Omonia Nicosia, confirmed that "it is difficult for Morocco to repeat the achievement of reaching the semi-finals of the Qatar World Cup when they compete in the North American finals this summer, but 'who knows?'".

Maïe, 28 years old and absent from the "Atlas Lions" squad since the preparatory camp for the 2022 edition, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that the fourth World Cup in Qatar has promising and talented players, wishing for them to go as far as possible.

"I believe they have a good team, and there are many talents among them. What they achieved in the last World Cup was an exceptional accomplishment. I think repeating that will be difficult, especially with the high expectations surrounding them now. But in football, anything is possible. They might go even further. However, the task will be much harder this time. They also won the Africa Cup of Nations, so people no longer underestimate them. We will see how things go, but I hope they reach as far as possible."

"Indeed, we could have played for Cameroon and Belgium as well. Personally, I played with the Belgian national teams at all age levels. But I was called up to the Moroccan national team when I was 18, and it was my first time with (French) Hervé Renard. I saw that Morocco was making great efforts both financially and athletically to put players in the best conditions. I visited the complex (Mohammed VI Academy) they established, and everything was well thought out, a real project. That attracted me, as did my closeness to my mother (Moroccan). For me, it was a relatively easy choice at that time. And for my brother (Sami), it was the same. We were very happy and proud to wear the Moroccan jersey and choose to play for it at that time. After that, what the national team achieved also attracts many players now, after what they presented in the World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations. So yes, this is very good."

"I personally do not follow the media, so I haven't heard anything about all that. But in fact, I have not been contacted by them since before the last World Cup. So I haven't heard anything since then, and I try to focus on my work on the field. All these matters are not my concern, so I try not to think about them too much."

"If I am contacted, of course I will think about it, but so far there has been no communication at all. This is not something that occupies my mind right now. I will play my last match in the Cypriot league on Friday and then go on vacation before returning to prepare for the next season where we will compete in the Champions League. My second experience in Cyprus has been successful on all levels. When I first arrived here in 2020-2021, I was much younger, coming from Standard Liège (Belgium) and I had not really established myself at the professional level. After that, I played one season on loan at Beveren, I had some matches, but I had not truly proven my worth. Now I have gained a lot of experience within a team competing at the top, because AEL Limassol was not like that at the time even though we finished the season in third place and reached the cup semi-finals, and that made the difference between the two experiences."