The Moroccan national coach Badou Zaki unveiled on Thursday the list of the 23 players that will participate in the two upcoming friendly games against Qatar (3rd of September) and Libya (7th of September).
Marouane Chamakh will be making his way back after recovering from an injury and after having netted for crystal palace his first strike of the current Premier League campaign.
On the other hand, the rising star of FC Barcelona Munir Haddadi was not included in the list, and Boudou Zaki gave a quite rational explanation to the decision lying behind him not calling the player.
He said during a press conference held yesterday in Rabat the following:
“Munir is a very talented player. He is still young I don’t think it would be smart to call him now, especially that he is competing for the starting 11 with FC Barcelona.
“Suarez is absent due to the ban imposed by the FIFA. This means that Munir is an essential piece for Luis Enrique’s squad now.
“Imagine that I call him now for the national team and then I call him for the African cup held in Morocco in January. This will be a serious blow for the player as he is still competing to prove himself with Barcelona and to get to the starting 11.
“If I call him for the African cup, he will be missing a lot of games in La Ligua and this will be a serious blow for him, in my perspective.
Let him first learn more, improve and find his feet with FC Barcelona. He is still young. The National team will come afterwards. I want him first to find his feet in Luis Enrique’s squad. Then, I will call him later on. This is for his best. We should not ‘burn’ his talent.”
Underneath is the full list Badou Zaki revealed in yesterday’s press conference:
Goalkeepers:
Khalid El Askri (Raja, Morocco), Karim Fegrouch (Limassol, Cyprus), Zniti (FAR, Morocco)
Defense and Middle-field:
Mehdi Benatia (Bayern Munich, Germany), Marouane Dacosta (Sivasspor, Turkey), Zouhair Feddal (Palermo, Italy), Mohammed Oulhaj (Raja, Morocco), Mohamed Aberhoune (MAT, Morocco), Zakaria Hashemi (Raja, Morocco), Ashraf Lazaa (Palermo, Italy), Zakarya Bergdich (Valladolod, Spain), Karim El Ahmdadi (Aston Villa, England); Mohamed Berrabeh (Wac, Morocco), Mounir Obbadi (Verona, Italy), Issam El Adwa (Levante, Spain), Nabil Dirar (Monanco, France), Nordin Amrabat (Galatasaray, Turkey), Omar El Kaddouri (Torino, Italy).
Forwards:
Abdelaziz Berrada (Marseille, France), Younes Belhanda (Dynamo Kiev, Ukraine), Zakaria Labyad (Arnhem, Netherlands), Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace, England), Youssef El Arabi (Granada, Spain).
The Moroccan Times.
