New boss Halihodzic trims Morocco squad for friendlies

by Staff Reporter

Thursday Aug 29, 2019. 15:00

New Morocco coach Vahid Halihodzic has named a 27-man training squad ahead of friendlies against Burkina Faso and Niger next month.

Halihodzic has initially named a preliminary squad of 46 players for the matches, but has now trimmed that down, leaving out former captain Mehdi Benatia, as well as established stars Mbark Boussoufa and Karim El Ahmadi.

There has been a surprise recall for Benfica playmaker Adel Taarabt, who has not played for Morocco since May 2014.

Standard Liege midfielder Mehdi Carcella is also back in the squad, but Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazraoui and Youssef En-Nesyri, who all went to the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, have been released to play for the Under-23 side in Olympic Games qualifiers over the same period.

Final squad:

Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou, Munir Mohanad, Ahmed Tagnaouti.

Defenders: Nabil Dirar, Omar Boutayeb, Mohamed Nahiri, Fouad Chafik, Essam Chebake, Badr Benoun, Jawad El Yamiq, Ghanem Saiss, Yunis Abdelhamid.

Midfielders: Sofyan Amrabat, Nordin Amrabat, Youssef Ait Bennasser, Mehdi Bourabia, Faycal Fajr, Walid El Karti, Younes Belhanda, Hakim Ziyech, Amine Harit, Soufiane Boufal, Mehdi Carcela, Adel Taarabat.

Forwards: Rachid Aliouli, Walid Azarou.