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Fez – Morocco’s football head coach Vahid Halilhodzic appears to have finally heeded Moroccan football fans’ repeated calls to end his months-long rift with red-listed players in the Moroccan squad.
Following his meeting last week with the soon-to-be FC Bayern Munich‘s right-back Noussair Mazraoui, the Franco-Bosnian coach is reportedly intending to build on this achievement and pay a visit to Chelsea’s creative midfielder Hakim Ziyech in the coming days.
According to the Moroccan news outlet Le360, Halilhodzic is expected to meet with Ziyech this week so as to settle their long-standing misunderstanding ahead of a potential return of the Moroccan winger to the national team.
“If all goes well, the player will take part in the next friendly match of the national team against the United States on June 1, in Cincinnati, as well as the first two rounds of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against South Africa and Liberia,” said the news outlet.
Read also: Mazraoui To Return to Morocco’s National Football Team
Halilhodzic’s months-long rift with Mazraoui and Ziyech had been one of the most talked-about issues in recent months, with Moroccan football fans continuously urging the Bosnian coach to bury the hatchet and recall the much-need players back to the Moroccan squad ahead of the Qatar World Cup 2022 kick off.
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) had also pledged to hold a meeting with Halilhodzic to discuss the return of the red-listed players to Morocco’s national team. The Atlas Lions’ door is open for every Moroccan player without exception, FRM’s president last month as he committed to ending the team’s internal tensions before the Qatar World Cup.
Even as he repeatedly expressed unconditional support for the Bosnian coach amid fans’ calls for Halilhodzic to be sacked before the World Cup, Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the FRMF, also reassured the public that he would mediate to put an end to the coach’s feud with Mazraoui and Ziyech.
After months of defiant and stubborn refusal to give in to fans’ request for the return of Ziyech and Mazroui, Halilhdozic now seems to have reached a compromise with Lekjaa as Morocco eyes an uplifting, morale-boosting performance at the upcoming World Cup.
