Rabat – Vahid Halilhodzic, the head coach of Morocco’s national football team, unveiled today his squad list for the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Guinea Bissau and Guinea.
The first qualifier games will be a double confrontation with Guinea Bissau on October 6 and-9; both matches will be played in Morocco as the Bissau Guinean national stadium does not meet FIFA quality standards.
The Atlas Lions will then play against Guinea on October 12 in a rescheduled game that was initially set to be played on September 5 in Conakry, the Guinean capital.
This game, too, will be played in Morocco after Africa’s governing football body, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), decided that the security context in Guinea is still not suited for a FIFA match a month after a military coup took place in the West African country.
Halilhodzic’s squad list for the three games comprises 27 players, with the notable return of Faycal Fajr and Soufiane Rahimi.
However, Hakim Ziyech, the offensive Chelsea midfielder whom many consider to be the main creative outlet of the Moroccan national team, is the squad’s big absentee. The playmaker has not been on good terms with Halihodzic, who has called out the Chelsea star for not working hard enough for the national team.
“His behavior in the last two matches, especially the last one, was not that of a national team player who as a leader in the team has to be a positive role model,” Halilhodzic recently said of Ziyech while justifying his decision to leave the player out of his squad.
Below is the full list of Morocco’s squad for the next World Cup qualifiers:
Goalkeepers
Mounir El Kajoui ( Hatayspor, Turkey)
Yassine Bounou ( Sevilla FC, Spain)
Anas Zniti ( Raja Casablanca, Morocco)
Sami Tlemcani ( Chelsea, England)
Defenders
Soufiane Chakla ( OH Louvain, France)
Ghanem Saiss (Wolverhampton, England)
Nayef Aguerd (Stade Rennais, France)
Achraf Hakimi (PSG, France)
Souffian El Karouani (NEC Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
Adam Massina (Watford, England);
Ayoub El Amloud (Wydad of Casablanca, Morocco)
Samy Mmaee (Ferencvaros TC, Hungary);
Midfielders
Faycal Fajr (Sivasspor, Turkey)
Soufiane Amrabat (,Fiorentina, Italy)
Aymane Barkok (Frankfort, Germany)
Selim Amallah (Standard de Liege, Belgium)
Ilias Chair ( Queens Park Rangers, England)
Imran Louza (Watford, England)
Abdou Harrou (Sassuolo, Italy)
Forwards
Soufiane Boufal ( Angers SCO, France)
Achraf Bencharki ( Zamalek, Egypt)
Munir Haddadi (Sevilla FC, Spain)
Zakaria Boukhlal (AZ Alkmaar, The Netherlands)
Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla FC, Spain)
Ryan Mmaee (Ferencvarosi TC, Hungary)
Soufiane Rahimi ( Al Ain, UAE)
Ayoub El Kaabi ( Hatayspor, Turkey)
