For ten years, Berkane has been part of this small group, with the two Rabat clubs (FAR and FUS), which is trying to challenge the supremacy of the two big Casablanca clubs. There are also, more sporadically, the two big clubs from the North (Tangier–Tetouan), in addition to Agadir, who try to play this role of challengers/outsiders.
Of all these clubs, few of them demonstrate regularity. Over time, only the FUS and the RSB have this presence, this insistence, this constancy. And if the FUS ended up winning the Botola (2016 with a certain Walid Regragui as coach), Berkane is still biding his time.
La Botola is on the 10th day, or a third of the way. Watch the weekend’s games. In Fez, the FAR lost a match that they should have won against the MAS (0-1). The Military were superior in the game but, from the moment they found themselves at 10, they played a draw. So they were punished. And in the end, it was not numerical inferiority that punished them, nor success, but mental weakness. Last year, the FAR would have aimed to “win” even at 10 against 11. It was their mental weakness that lost them, nothing else.
Meanwhile, the two major Casablanca clubs continued their chaotic journey. Facing a team from MAT, which is relegated, Raja played yet another match without scoring a goal (0-0), while the Greens largely dominated the debates. As for Wydad, it had all the difficulty in the world to avoid defeat against Tangier (2-2), while the Reds do not necessarily have to be ashamed of their performance in the match.
And the RSB in all this? Faced with a willing and well-organized, but limited, Touarga team, Berkane knew how to bide his time. Without genius, but diligent and disciplined, the “Oranges” perfectly negotiated the strong moments of the game. When Touarga found themselves down to ten, they pressed to win, while others would have already been happy to bring back the draw. Result: by insisting, they ended up scoring this liberating goal in stoppage time, thus bringing back three precious points from their trip.
This victory is that of the mind. In a tight championship, that’s what makes the difference.
The team coached by the Tunisian Chaâbani (a very good coach, by the way), finds itself today alone in the lead, with 5 points ahead of the MAS. She doesn’t score many goals, is hardly flamboyant, but she advances with the confidence of a potential champion. The current squad, which has been completely remodeled, is no more talented than the one that challenged the supremacy of Raja and Wydad just a few seasons ago. Berkane doesn’t even have this providential scorer, like a Boushaba could be in the 1980s. Even a Kodjo Laba when the RSB was breaking through on the continental scene.
But there is a united team, a young and competent coach, and above all there is this mental strength, this conviction, which allows them to turn around complicated matches, like the one last night. If they manage to manage their efforts and their energy on the African level, this Botola can be theirs. The season is still long, but the representative of the city of clementines can do it. His seriousness and his steely mind allow him, in any case, to dream all his dreams.
