Morocco Coach Omits Ziyech, Mazraoui from National Team Roster

Explaining his choices during the press conference organized for the publication of the list, the Franco-Bosnian technician indicated that the selection is made according to the current form of the players, but also, taking into account the cohesion of the group, which has already acquired a lot of complicity during the qualifiers.

Thus, the Moroccan team will rely on reliable values such as Achraf Hakimi, Youssef En-Nesyri, Yassine Bounou, Sofyan Amrabat or Ghanem Saiss, he stressed, adding that new faces including Azzedine Ounahi, a player from Angers SCO described as very technical and the new jewel of FC Barcelona, Abdessamad Ezzalzouli, are called up to strengthen the team.

The big losers are called Hakim Ziyech and Noussair Mazraoui. Coach Vahid, steadfast, preferred the cohesion of his group to Ziyech’s talent. "We did the qualifiers without these two players. We have a homogeneous and consistent group. I can’t take the risk of blowing up this cohesion," he said.

List of called up players

Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou (Sevilla FC), Munir Mohand Mohamedi (Hatayspor), Anas Zniti (Raja de Casablanca).

Defenders: Soufiane Chakla (OH Louvain), Samy Mmaee (Ferencvárosi TC), Ghanem Saïss (Wolverhampton), Nayef Aguerd (Stade rennais), Achraf Hakimi (PSG), Souffian El Karouani (NEC Nijmegen) and Adam Massina (Watford) and Sofiane Alakouch (FC Metz).

Midfielders: Fayçal Fajr (Sivasspor), Soufiane Amrabat (Fiorentina), Aymane Barkok (Frankfort), Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers) Imran Louza (Watford), Azzedine Ounahi (Angers SCO), Selim Amallah (Standard de Liège).

Forwards: Soufiane Boufal (Angers SCO), Munir Haddadi (FC Séville), Youssef En-Nesyri (FC Séville), Ryan Mmaee (Ferencvárosi TC), Ayoub El Kaabi (Hatayspor), Zakaria Boukhlal (AZ Alkmaar), Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (FC Barcelona).