The selection of Morocco breathes a sigh of relief after returning to their own country. On Sunday, the players were still in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, where a violent coup was underway. Armed soldiers captured President Alpha Condé and overthrew his government. Morocco’s players had come to Guinea for a World Cup qualifier to take place on Monday, but that match has been cancelled.
Initially, the players were not allowed to leave their hotel. “When I woke up on Sunday morning, Adel Taarabt from Benfica came to my room. He asked me if I had also heard shots,” said Sofyan Amrabat in conversation with The Telegraph. “Initially I had to laugh and I said that it must have been fireworks. That is sometimes set off at player hotels in the night before matches. But on the internet we saw that it was serious.” Amrabat never really felt unsafe, but the situation was precarious. “It’s very strange when you hear gunfights followed by silences and new shots.”
The airport was a 45-minute drive from the players’ hotel, but the military who took power called on everyone to stay inside. The road to the airport was closed. However, the king of Morocco has done work to get the players back, attacker Zakaria Aboukhlal tells the website of his club AZ. “That was not easy, because all airports were already closed. Fortunately, the plane we had come with was still in the country. We had to leave quickly through the back door of the hotel and take the bus to the airport.”
“There were soldiers in front of us and the curtains had to stay closed,” continues Aboukhlal. “On the way, many people were celebrating that the president had been arrested. There was shouting and kicking at the bus. At a certain point we stood still in that whole event. Then everyone was shocked. We didn’t know whether the people were happy or angry. Fortunately for us they were happy. Once we got through that, we managed to come back.”
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