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Rabat – Morocco’s star players, Azzedine Ounahi and Achraf Hakimi will not participate in the friendly match against Peru on Tuesday, the national team’s coach, Walid Regragui said on Monday during a pre-match press conference.
Ounahi sustained an injury to his right ankle during Morocco’s last match against Brazil.
Regarding Hakimi, Regragui explained that they agreed with the Paris Saint Germain player that he would only play the first half of the match against Brazil “because he returned from injury.”
The coach explained the decision: “We don’t want to take any risk with him to avoid that he is out [of play] until the end of the season.”
Detailing his choice for the lineup against Peru, Regragui added that Yassine Bounou will take the field again. Bounou’s performance in the last game against Brazil was largely considered suboptimal.
“He certainly made mistakes against Brazil,” the coach said commenting on Bounou’s performance, “but he will learn from those few approximations. He is a great goalkeeper, and the match against Peru will allow him to prove it.”
“I am a coach who trusts his players a lot, and Yassine gave it back to me during the World Cup,” he said.
In the same statement the coach named Munir El Kajoui as a player “whom we can also count on,” explaining that he shows, “an extraordinary mentality.”
Morocco is set to face Peru in a friendly match on Tuesday. On Saturday, the Atlas Lions scored a historic win against South America’s football giant Brazil.
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