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The long-standing Ziyech-Halilhodzic rift is reportedly close to an end ahead of Morocco’s 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup playoffs against the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Houssine Kharja, the former captain of Morocco’s Atlas Lions, is reported to have offered to mediate in the dispute between Hakim Ziyech and national team coach Vahid Halilhodzic, according to converging local media reports.
Moroccan outlet Al-Montakhab has notably reported that the former captain of the Atlas Lions has recently launched the initiative to contact Ziyech and Halilhodzic. The president of the Moroccan Football Royal Federation (FRMF) was monitoring the initiative, which reportedly led to solving the dispute.
Halilhodzic and Ziyech have reportedly said they are ready to start a new chapter in their relationship and focus on helping the national team, the report added, with the Chelsea playmaker most likely to feature in Morocco’s World Cup playoffs against DR Congo on March 25 and 29.
Read also: Sorry Ziyech, Mazraoui: Halilhodzic Was Never the Coach Morocco Needs
In February, Ziyech announced his decision to no longer play for Morocco’s national team again. Though fairly expected given his widely reported rift with Morocco’s coach, Ziyech’s announcement of his forced retirement from international duties prompted Moroccan football fans to call on the FRMF to make sure to convince the Chelsea midfielder to reconsider his decision. While the moderate wing of fans who demanded Ziyech’s return to the team urged the FRMF to make moves towards settling the player’s dispute with Halilhodzic, the more radical voices simply called for the sacking of the Atlas Lions’ Bosnian coach.
For them, Halilhodzic’s stubborn and self-defeating decision not to select players of the standing of Ziyech and Ajax’s Noussair Mazroui was a key factor in Morocco’s disappointing exit from the AFCON quarter finals against Egypt.
As most Moroccan fans were tenaciously pushing for Halilhodzic to put Morocco’s team before his quite manageable misunderstandings with some world-class players, the news of Ziyech’s potential return to the national team is bound to delight many Atlas Lions fans.
Read also: Vahid Halilhodzic Challenged Ahead of DR Congo Playoffs
Following Morocco’s exit from this year’s AFCON, disappointed fans blamed Halilhodzic’s “bad management” and “poor tactical choices” for the national team’s failure in the quarter-finals.
But when asked about the Ziyech situation in his first post-AFCON press conference, Halilhodzic said: “You want me to beg someone to join the national team?” he said, adding that he wants to “retain the group, the communal spirit.”
He went on to say that he can’t “summon someone who can blow up the team, even if it was Lionel Messi.”
Morocco’s Bosnian coach has long put several players on his red list, including Hakim Ziyech, Noussair Mazraoui, and Abderrazak Hamdallah.
As the playoffs against DR Congo take place later this month, Moroccan football fans are anxiously waiting for Halilhodzic to reveal the squad’s lineup and are hopeful of qualifying for the world’s prestigious tournament.
