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Rabat- After failing to play for Morocco’s Atlas Lions due to a months-long feud with former head coach Vahid Halilhodzic, Noussair Mazraoui will at last travel to Qatar to represent Morocco in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the biggest football competition in the world.
Mazraoui made his debut for Morocco’s national team in 2018. However, the Moroccan right-back was excluded from playing for the team for over a year due to his dispute with Atlas Lions former coach Vahid Halilhodzic. He made a comeback this year for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Expressing his enthusiasm about his participation in the FIFA World Cup, Mazraoui wrote in an instagram post “Al Hamdoulilah [Thank God], a dream come true! Can’t wait for the world cup to start Inshaallah and give everything for my country.”
The talented player has received support from Moroccan football fans on social media, with users congratulating him and wishing him luck.
In an interview with sports news platform Khel Now Mazraoui expressed great hope for Morocco’s national team saying, “We have an amazing team, to be honest, with a lot of quality, a lot of players who play in big leagues in Europe, also for big teams.”
“I expect that we can be the dark horse, they don’t expect it from us, but I think we can do something special, something nobody is imagining, I think we can achieve that,” he added.
Read Also: Morocco’s Atlas Lions Head to Qatar for World Cup Dream
Born in the Netherlands, Mazraoui is the right-back for FC Bayern Munich and the Moroccan national team. He is the second Moroccan player to join Bayern Munich after former Atlas Lion capitain Medhi Benatia, who previously played for the German club.
Bayern Munich’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic described Mazraoui as “a player who presses forward a lot down the right side,” he continued, “we also really like his mentality – he’s fired up for this challenge at FC Bayern.”
Before landing the four-year contract with the German club, Mazraoui played for the Dutch professional football club AFC Ajax where he was recognised as the club’s Talent of the Year in 2019. Mazraoui played 33 games for Ajax Amsterdam in the 2021-2022 season, scoring five goals and delivering four assists.
Morocco will be participating in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, as one of four Arab teams that have qualified for the competition.
Walid Regragui, the national team’s head coach, selected 26 football players for the World Cup, including Hakim Ziyech, Abderrazak Hamdallah, Achraf Hakimi, and Bilal El Khannouss, among others.
The World Cup draw put Morocco in Group F along with Belgium, Croatia, and Canada. The national team’s first World Cup game will be against Croatia on November 23, followed by a match against Belgium on November 27, and a third game against Canada.
