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Moroccan former international Nordin Amrabat has joined the camp of players angry at Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic.
AEK Athens’ winger, who has been away from Morocco’s national team for several years, believes that the Bosnian coach must “put his ego aside” or “leave.”
Armrabat, in an interview with ESPN on Sunday, was critical of Vahid Halilhodzic, noting that Halilhodzic “is not getting the most out of this group because of his stubbornness and his huge ego.”
The Moroccan former international questioned “how can [Halilhodwic] select only one player out of four highest level players present in the Champions League. Amrabat said that he has “no idea what [Halilhodzic] is trying to do,” adding that he personally believes “he’s doing the exact opposite of what the fans expect.”
Among other things, the 34-year-old regrets the exclusion of some Moroccan key players like Chelsea’s midfielder Hakim Ziyech and AjaxAmsterdam’s fullback Noussair Mazraoui. Both players recently refused to join the Atlas Lions to face Congo, because of their bad relationship with Halilhodzic.
Amrabat said Halilhodzic had arrogantly decided to cast out such players for small, trivial disputes.
Speaking about Halilhodzic’s tactical mistakes, the 34-year-old pointed out the lack of continuity in the tactical schemes.
“During CAN’s qualifications, [Halilhodwic] chose to play with a 4-4-2 system, while he played with a 4-3-3 lineup during the CAN, and now with a 3-5-2 lineup with only two training sessions in this system,” he said, adding that “there is no automatism, nothing.”
In spite of his bitter disappointment, Amrabat is confident ahead of the second leg against the Congolese today at the Mohamed V Stadium in Morocco’s Casablanca.
AEK Athens’ winger believes that Morocco will qualify, but “not thanks to Vahid, thanks to the fans,” he said.
“If I were Fouzi Lekjaa [president of the FRMF], I would ask the coach to put his ego aside or leave permanently after this match. It is no longer possible,” concluded Amrabat.
Halilhodzic has been subject to a harsh backlash of comments after Morocco’s bad conclusion in this year’s African Cup of Nations, leaving the continent’s tournament in the quarter-final against Egypt.
Moroccan football fans have been calling the Royal Federation of Football (FRMF) to immediately dismiss Halilhodzic and intervene to solve his dispute with Morocco’s players Hakim ZIyech and Noussair Mazraoui.
Halilhodzic has kept the two away from the national team for a long period of time, causing some gaps in the performance of the Atlas Lions.
The FRMF, however, called up the two to join Morocco’s national team in the two-legged playoffs against DR Congo, but they took to social media to decline the call.
