Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Haoming
The Moroccan team recently announced the squad for the Qatar World Cup, and Chelsea striker Ziyech is on the list, which temporarily puts a stop to the national team's infighting.
Previously, Ziyech announced his withdrawal from the national team due to intensified conflicts with former Morocco coach Harry Hodzic. In August, the meritorious coach who led the Moroccan team to the World Cup finals was dismissed from get out of class, and the local coach Regraji took over, and Ziyech "rebelled" successfully. "This is the best lineup to defend our honor," said
Regraji after the roster was released. Although
took over as the coach, there is reason to have high hopes for Regraji. The homegrown coach, dubbed 'Moroccan Guardiola', sent the country into a frenzy by leading Casablanca Vidad to a victory over Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the African Football Champions League before taking over. .
The 47-year-old Regraj is a star-studded squad whose flanks are particularly daunting. The 29-year-old Chelsea winger Ziyech has played 41 games for the national team and scored 17 goals; Ashraf, who has just turned 24, is a star of hope introduced by Paris Saint-Germain with a heavy investment of 60 million euros in 2021. He previously created the fastest sprint speed in Bundesliga history when he played for Dortmund; and the Bayern Munich right-back Mazlaoui, who is about to celebrate his 25th birthday, is also a "fast horse". It is worth mentioning that the striker Hamed, who used to play for Guangzhou R&F team (now Guangzhou City team), was also selected for the Morocco team's World Cup squad. The 2014 Chinese Super League silver boot winner is now playing in the Saudi league.
Although Morocco has these talented players, they are usually scattered in different corners of the world. In the World Cup squad, 6 people are from French clubs, 4 people are from Spanish clubs, 3 people play in Morocco, the English league and the Italian league respectively, and 2 people play in Belgium, in addition, there are Turkey, Qatar and Saudi league players.
In fact, Morocco is located in the northwest of the African continent, with Atlantic and Mediterranean sea breezes to the west and north, and the Sahara Desert to the east, where Arabic, French, Spanish and Portuguese are intertwined, where different cultures collide and mingle .
In the history of the World Cup, the Moroccan team is not lacking in background. They have reached the finals five times before, and they became the first African team to advance to the World Cup knockout in 1986. At that time, in the contest with the three European powerhouses of England, Poland and Portugal, the Morocco team qualified first in the group, which shocked many people's jaws.
's voyage to the Gulf was smooth sailing for the Moroccan team. After winning the first place in the group with six consecutive victories in the world preliminaries, they then defeated the Congo (Kinshasa) team in the knockout round and advanced to the World Cup finals for the sixth time. In the upcoming Qatar World Cup, Morocco will be placed in Group F and will compete with Croatia, Belgium and Canada for two qualifying places. This seemingly strong and weak group may have a hidden mystery. The runners-up and third-place finishers of the last World Cup are both facing the trouble of age, and the most likely to challenge the old order is the "Atlas Lion".
However, Regraj's succession was a little rushed, with only a few warm-up games for him to run the lineup. Morocco defeated Chile 2:0 and drew 0:0 with Paraguay, and the performance was quite satisfactory.
For Regraji, the Qatar World Cup is about to start, and perhaps the most important thing is to unite this group of "lions", only in this way can they send out a roar that shakes the football world in the Gulf. (Wang Haoming)
(Xinhuanet)
