Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Vahid Halilhodzic, the head coach of Morocco’s national team, has shrugged off Fouzi Lekjaa’s suggestion that he may not stay long in his post if the mismanagement issues of Morocco’s football team persist.
Recently, Fouzi Lekjaa, the President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), said that while Halilhodzic still has the support of the FRMF leadership, the Franco-Bosnian coach “is not untouchable.”
“Halilhodzic has the support in Morocco. Yet neither he nor I or anyone else are untouchable and irreplaceable,” Lekjaa said. “We are working hard to get the football players back to the national team. There are problems that can be fixed and will be fixed so that Mazraoui, Ziyech, Hamdallah, and others can return to the national team.”
Lekjaa’s statement cast a shadow of doubt over the future of Halilhodzic with the Atlas Lions as the Moroccan team prepares for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
But the Franco-Bosnian coach dismissed the FRMF president’s veiled threat in an interview with Sportclub, a Croatian football-focused news outlet.
“I have no comments on that, nor am I interested,” Halilhodzic told the Croatian outlet.
When asked whether he expects to remain head of the Moroccan team going through the World Cup, he answered: “Time will tell. I did my job, the results are here, and I don’t have any problems.”
Before Lekjaa’s statement, Halilhodzic had been facing mounting criticism among the ranks of Moroccan football fans, with many accusing him of a “toxic” and “self-defeating” coaching style.
Read also: Sorry Ziyech, Mazraoui: Halilhodzic Was Never the Coach Morocco Needs
The wave of criticism started following Morocco’s disappointing performance in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Fans blamed the coach for excluding some of Morocco’s most talented players from the team selection, namely Hakim Ziyech, Noussair Mazraoui, and Abderrazak Hamdallah.
Over the past weeks, Halilhodzic’s showdown with Ziyech has occupied much of the spotlight as fans urged the FRMF leadership to sack Halilhodzic after he failed to take Morocco to the semifinals of the AFCON.
Commenting on his decision to exclude the Chelsea player from his squad list, Halilhodzic claimed that the midfielder lacked discipline and would be a bad influence on the national team’s morale. The Atlas Lions coach further said that he would not select someone who could ruin the team’s concentration “even if it was Lionel Messi.”
As debates intensified over his feud with Halilhodzic and his exclusion from Morocco’s AFCON and World Cup qualifiers squad lists, Ziyech shocked Moroccans when he announced his retirement from international football.
The move prompted Atlas Lions fans to urge the FRMF leadership to intervene. While many urged Lekjaa to mediate between Halilhodzic and Ziyech ahead of the World Cup, others have taken the view that the Bosnian coach should simply be sacked.
Amid the ongoing debate, recent developments suggest the FRMF leadership is actively exploring venues for the return of Ziyech and Mazroui as Morocco prepares to take on tough opponents at the upcoming World Cup. The question now remains whether the rehabilitation of the red-listed players will take place with or without Halilhodzic as Morocco’s coach.
