Morocco national coach Vahid Halilzodzic has announced his selection for the Africa Cup. Abde Ezzalzouli (Barcelona) can immediately prove himself at a final tournament with zero international matches in his legs. The attacker thus accompanies Souffian El Karouani (NEC) and Zakaria Aboukhlal (AZ) in the selection; Former Eredivisie player Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina) has also been called up.
Ezzalzouli made his debut in the first team of Barcelona on October 30 against Alavés. Then disappeared Ez Abde no longer from trainer Xavi’s starting eleven. So far, he has made seven games, scoring once. It was enough for a final election for the Lions of the Atlas at the Africa Cup, as it turned out on Thursday during the announcement of the 25-man group.
Extremely proud! 2021 Africa Cup of Nations it is ???????? #DiMaMaghrib pic.twitter.com/lh0D6R1dk2
— Zakaria Aboukhlal (@ZAboukhlal) Dec 23, 2021
Left back El Karouani is an important link in NEC’s starting eleven this season; Aboukhlal mainly has to make do with a spare role at AZ. Unlike former FC Utrecht and Feyenoord player Amrabat, ex-Spartan Abdou Harroui (Sassuolo) is left disappointed in Italy. Harroui was called up in September for the World Cup qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, but was not allowed to make his debut by Halilzodzic.
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It should come as no surprise that Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) and Noussair Mazraoui (Ajax) are not part of the selection for the Africa Cup. The two have been at odds for some time with national coach Halilzodzic, who accuses them of ‘a lack of discipline’. Morocco’s first game of the Africa Cup will take place on January 10, when the country will face Ghana in Group C.
Aboukhlal is pleased with his election on the AZ website. “This is really great,” says the attacker. “One of your dreams when you’re young is to play for your country in big tournaments. So I’m very happy with it. In Cameroon we play against Ghana first and that game is very important right away. I think we can go far We won everything in qualifying and we have a good team. Hopefully we can deliver on that.”
The full selection:
Goal: Yassine Bounou (Seville), Monir El Kajoui (Hatayspor), Anas Zniti (Raja Casablanca)
Defense: Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Sofiane Alakouch (FC Metz), Souffian El Karouani (NEC), Adam Masina (Watford), Sofian Chakla (OH Leuven), Samy Mmaee (Ferencváros), Ghanem Saïss (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Nayef Aguerd (Stade Rennes)
Midfield: Aymen Barkok (Eintracht Frankfurt), Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina), Fayçal Fajr (Sivasspor), Azzedine Ounahi (Angers), Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers), Imran Louza (Watford), Selim Amallah (Standard Liège)
Attack: Munir El Haddadi (Seville), Zakaria Aboukhlal (AZ), Abde Ezzalzouli (Barcelona), Sofiane Boufal (Angers), Ryan Mmaee (Ferencváros), Youssef En-Nesyri (Seville), Ayoub El Kaabi (Hatayspor).