Angola boss Marcos Antunes lauds impressive Morocco 

The coach of Angola Marcos Antunes was full of praise for Morocco after his side became the latest victims of the Atlas Lions losing 5-2 in their TotalEnergies CAF Futsal AFCON opener in Rabat.

Marcos Antunes' side took the lead against the run of play courtesy of Helber Garcia's brilliant strike after seven minutes on the clock.

Soufiane Charraoui scored a hat trick to help the tournament favorites kick off their campaign on a positive note in front of a sold out Prince Moulay Abdellah Hall.

"Morocco is from another world," Antunes said. "It's very difficult to try to make the players adapt to the situation like the coach of Morocco who won the game.

"My players with the intensity, love and passion can show an attitude in some parts of the game we marched them but the individual quality of the players of Morocco made the difference.

"Angola has good individual players too and we're trying to make them understand that it's about the group which we needed today."

The young and exuberant Angola team showed spirit throughout the match against their experienced opponents and Marcos says it's the experience his team needs to develop.

"This was a fantastic experience for my players because they are very young and they want to feel this moment to develop Futsal in Angola," he said.

 "In parts of the game we were equal but we can't always play at the same level and against Morocco is very difficult. I don't like to lose but I am happy with the attitude of my players."

 His counterpart in the Moroccan dugout Hicham Dguig admitted that despite the scoreline the match was difficult. 

"As expected the match was very difficult," he told journalists at the post match press conference. "I said it on Tuesday but we played well and it was good for the public because it was a suspenseful game.

"They know everything about us and they watch our matches and they know about us and I don't know much about them. 

"They have some players who play in Portugal and it was difficult. Now we know a lot about them. The most important thing Is to create more opportunities and try to score."

The defending champions received massive support from their fans on Thursday night as it marked their first competitive game since the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania. 

"The players were very enthusiastic because it is the first match since the World Cup and you cannot control that but we played well and secured the result," the renowned coach said.

Dguig was pleased with the reaction of his team after conceding the first goal and he had a special tribute for hat trick hero Soufiane Charraoui.

"He is a very gifted player that was why he was selected by the Netherlands and he chose to represent his roots," he concluded.

Morocco will face Zambia on Saturday, 13 April in the top of the table clash at 20:00 GMT while Angola and Ghana battle for a result at 17:00 GMT.