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Rabat – Ahead of Morocco’s first 2022 World Cup qualifier game against Sudan, Vahid Halihodzic, the head coach of the Moroccan national football team, has renewed his confidence in his squad.
The two teams will face each other today in Rabat’s Mohammed Abdellah stadium, and Halilhodzic has suggested that his team is ready to win its first game to top its group.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Halilhodzic said that Morocco’s squad has all it takes to win the game against Sudan and the World Cup qualifiers in confidence and style in a “hard group, whose teams have qualified for the African Cup of Nations.”
While conceding that Sudan will be a tough opponent with a “strong team,”, the Moroccan head coach insisted that Morocco’s national team is among the best in Africa and has the quality and squad depth to qualify for the World Cup.
“Making this bet is not difficult,” explained a confident Halilhodzic.
Reaching at least the semi-finals of the upcoming African and qualifying for the 2022 Qatar World Cup are the two goals on which Halilhodzic and the Moroccan Royal Football Federation built their contract in 2019.
And judging from his comments today, the Bosnian coach appears to have fully embraced the notion that his appointment as Morocco’s head coach will go down as a failure if the team does not qualify for the World Cup.
In the pre-match press conference, Halilhodzic exuded composure and optimism, speaking about both today’s game and the other upcoming qualifier games as the start of the moment of truth for both him and his players.
But there were some grey, awkward moments during the pre-match press conference as the Bosnian coach also responded to questions relating to the absence of Hakim Ziyech from the lineup for Morocco’s qualifier games.
Ziyech has been the Moroccan team’s creative conduit in recent years, dictating the tempo in midfield and driving the team’s attacks. As a result, many Moroccan fans were furious when news broke that Ziyech would not be part of Morocco’s squad for the qualifier games against Sudan and Guinea.
When asked about the Chelsea star’s absence from his line-up, Halihodzic explained that Ziyech’s behavior “is not suited to the national team, especially his lack of discipline when it comes to attending training and applying the coach’s guidelines.”
He said that he does not accept this kind of attitude because the national team is above all consideration.
Also present at the pre-match press conference, forward Soufiane Boufal said that the preparations for the national team are taking place in a good atmosphere and that players are in a good mood and ready to defend Moroccan colors.
Like his coach, Boufal also described the match against Sudan as “very important,” adding: “Winning the match against Sudan will give the players confidence.”
