Morocco’s Football Head Coach Halilhodzic ‘Ready for Anything’

Rabat – The head coach of Morocco’s national football team Vahid Halilhodzic has said that he is ready for anything regarding his future with the Atlas Lions.

The head coach made his remarks in an interview with Bosnian news outlet Reprezentacia.

Halilhodzic is set to hold a meeting with President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) Fouzi Lekjaa, to discuss the management of the team.

“Well, I will not talk about it anymore. That’s how it is when you are a coach, you are constantly exposed to pressures that some people find hard to bear. But I’m ready for any eventuality. It’s a pity that we talk more about this than about the successes achieved,” he said in the interview.

The coach cited his achievements with the Atlas Lions, arguing that he is the only coach to “have qualified four national teams for the World Cup,” referring to Ivory Coast in 2010, Algeria in 2014, Japan in 2018, and Morocco in 2022.

The head coach has constantly been the subject of popular backlash since Morocco’s disappointing AFCON campaign.

Despite the Atlas Lions’ qualification for the 2022 World Cup, he was criticized in Morocco for his tactical choices and the composition of the team, especially when he decided not to call up Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech and Ajax Amsterdam right-back Noussair Mazraoui.

The Atlas Lions are expected in Cincinnati on June 2 for a friendly match against the US national team. And as Morocco prepares to play its second consecutive FIFA World Cup, the large majority of Atlas Lions fans and observers believe the Moroccan team needs Ziyech and Mazroui to boost its chances of making it out of a tough group stage in Qatar.