Morocco Squad Announced for CAN 2023 Qualifiers: Harit and Mazraoui Return, Ziyech Omitted

Morocco will face the United States in a friendly in June, South Africa and Liberia in the 2023 CAN qualifiers. The players called up for these various matches are now known. On the list published by the coach at a press conference, Amine Harit and Noussair Mazraoui appear, two players who have long been excluded from the national team, but who have recently made peace with the coach.

However, we still note the absence of Hakim Ziyech, who has apparently turned his back on the national team. The player would have refused any mediation from the federation and even from his relatives. Vahid also informed of the absence of some of his executives, including Imran Louza and Sofiane Boufal, who are recovering from their operations.

According to the program, the first match of the Atlas Lions will be against the United States on June 1, 2022, at the TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, in preparation for the World Cup in Qatar. This will be followed by the first match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which will pit them against the South African national team on Thursday, June 9, 2022 at the Prince Moulay Abdallah Sports Complex in Rabat.

The second round match of the same qualifiers will see the Atlas Lions face the Liberian national team, which will take place at the Mohammed V Sports Complex in Casablanca on Monday, June 13, 2022. Recall that the Atlas Lions are housed in Group K, alongside Liberia but also Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Here is the complete list of called-up players

Goalkeepers:
• Yassine Bounou (Sevilla FC)
• Mounir El Kajoui (Hatayspor)
• Anas Zniti (Raja de Casablanca)

Defenders:
• Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
• Soufiane Alakouch (Lausanne FC)
• Adam Masina (Watford)
• Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich)

Defenders:
• Ghanem Saiss (Wolverhampton)
• Soufiane Chakla (OH Leuven)
• Samy Mmae (Ferencvaros TC)
• Nayef Aguerd (Stade Rennais)

Midfielders:
• Fayçal Fajr (Sivasspor)
• Azzedine Ounahi (Angers SCO)
• Iliais Chair (Queens Park Rangers)
• Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina)
• Adel Taarabt (Benfica)
• Selim Amallah (Standard de Liège)
• Aymen Barkok (Francfurt)

Forwards:
• Amine Harit (Olympique de Marseille)
• Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla FC)
• Munir El Haddadi (Sevilla FC)
• Soufiane Rahimi (Al Ain)
• Ayoub El Kaabi (Hatayspor)
• Zakaria Aboukhlal (AZ Alkmaar)
• Tarik Tissoudali (KAA La Gantoise)