Noussair Mazraoui has for the first time spoken extensively about the background of the disagreement with national coach Vahid Halilhodzic. The right back of Ajax, like Hakim Ziyech, lives at odds with the choice lord of the Moroccan national team and is also not welcome at the next international match. atlas lions. Mazraoui had the first collision with Halilhodzic during the corona period during a training, he says openly.
During the program In the car with Andy! Andy van der Meijde asks the reason behind the fact that Mazraoui has again not been selected for the national team. “Why don’t you play? Why not Hakim too? That’s weird isn’t it? Just say so, and not like to ESPN…”, Van der Meijde asks with a wink, after which Mazraoui decides to tell his whole version of the story. “Bro, I’m telling you honestly… I’m just going to get the story out.”
“Last year there was a bit of a hiccup. It was during the corona period,” says Mazraoui. “Ajax did not let me go, but Morocco wanted me to come because they had arranged everything well: one and a half meters, mouth cap, everything. Finally they told me to come. They had even sent Ajax a letter and e-mail. You know what they can do. If you don’t show up, they can suspend you. Finally after three or four days Ajax said: go. So I was three or four days late.”
“Then went to Morocco and the trainer was annoyed, but I didn’t know that. I went to train, it was a bit warm and so we had a drink break every five minutes. Every five minutes the training was stopped and I didn’t feel like it. I was also no longer thirsty and so at a certain point I stopped drinking. Then the national coach came and said: you have to drink. I said, just very nicely: I’m not thirsty, coach, thank you. He wanted to force me to drink and it made no sense. Then it went from neat to increasingly aggressive,” says Mazraoui, who indicates that Morocco’s captain, Romain Saïss, tried to calm the mood.
“He threw a water bottle at me. I picked up the water bottle, threw some water on the floor, closed it again and threw it away. The trainer sent me in and that was the beginning of all this shit. He was going to struggle for a sip of water, so that’s where it started.” Mazraoui indicates that it was then expressed in his opinion, but that turned out not to be the case, according to the right back.
“I was angry, he was angry and I said: I came after three, four days and then you send me away during the first practice. What am I doing here then? Then let me go home right away. After that we had said it, I think. Apparently it still bothered him, because from that moment on I was called up one more time and then no more,” said Mazraoui.
Halilhodzic also left Ziyech and Mazraoui out of the selection in the past two international matches because he was dissatisfied with their mentality, he said in firm terms at the end of September. He also showed that the right back and winger did not have to count on a quick return to the national team. He kept his word, because he was not changed his mind and did not select the duo for the upcoming international matches against Sudan and Guinea. Morocco qualified for the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup last month without Mazraoui and Ziyech.