Let me tell you something about desperation in football—it has a smell, and right now, USM Oujda reeks of it heading into Saturday's clash with KAC Kenitra. Sources close to the club tell me the mood in Oujda's training ground hasn't been this tense since their last relegation battle, and that's exactly what this is shaping up to be, despite us being only three matches into the Botola 2 campaign.
One point from two matches. A goal drought that would make a desert seem lush. USM Oujda hasn't found the back of the net in their last three competitive fixtures, and in a league as unforgiving as Morocco's second tier, that kind of offensive impotence gets you buried before Halloween. The goalless draw against Raja Beni Mellal last Saturday wasn't gritty defending—it was a continuation of their creative bankruptcy. The 1-1 stalemate with Chabab Mohammédia before that? Same story, different verse. When you're managing just 0.3 goals per game, you're not building momentum; you're digging a hole.
KAC Kenitra, meanwhile, arrives with the swagger of a team that's figured something out. That 2-1 victory over Amal Tiznit last weekend wasn't pretty, but three points never are when you're scrapping in the middle of the table. What matters is they've got goals flowing—five in their last three matches—and more importantly, they've shown they can win ugly. That 3-1 demolition of Raja Beni Mellal back on September 28 revealed something crucial about this Kenitra side: they can punish mistakes, scoring three times in a 60-minute span that ripped the game wide open.
The tactical chess match here writes itself, and it's going to be uncomfortable viewing for the neutral. Oujda must break their defensive shell to find goals, but doing so against a Kenitra side that's proven clinical on the counter is football suicide. The home side will likely pack bodies behind the ball early, hoping to frustrate their visitors into overcommitting, but that's a strategy that only works if you can actually score when opportunity knocks. Based on what we've seen, Oujda couldn't finish their dinner right now, let alone their chances.
Kenitra's approach will be predatory—sit deep, stay compact, and wait for Oujda's desperation to create space in transition. The visitors have found the net five times in three matches while conceding only three, which suggests a team comfortable playing on the break. That away loss to Chabab Ben Guerir was their only stumble, and frankly, every team in this division drops points on the road. The real measuring stick is how you respond, and that comprehensive victory over Beni Mellal followed by grinding out the win against Tiznit shows mental resilience.
The numbers paint a devastating picture for the hosts. While Kenitra sits comfortably in 10th with three points and a positive goal differential trajectory, Oujda languishes in 13th, already staring at the relegation picture before the leaves have fully changed color. Two points separate these sides, but the psychological gap feels like a chasm. One team knows how to win; the other has forgotten how to score.
What makes this fixture genuinely compelling isn't the quality—let's be honest, Botola 2 isn't going to win any awards for aesthetic football—but the stakes. Oujda needs points now, not in December when the panic truly sets in. Every match you fail to capitalize at home in this league becomes an albatross around your neck come spring. Kenitra, sensing blood in the water, has the tools to expose a fragile opponent.
The reality is simple and brutal: USM Oujda is sleepwalking toward crisis, and KAC Kenitra is the kind of opportunistic side that feasts on vulnerability. Unless Oujda's attackers suddenly rediscover their shooting boots in training this week—and sources tell me there's been no tactical revelation in their preparations—this has all the makings of another frustrating afternoon for the home faithful.
Kenitra wins this 2-0, extends Oujda's scoring drought to four matches, and sends the first genuine tremors of panic through the home dressing room. Sometimes in football, you can see disaster coming from miles away. This is one of those times.