Morocco names squad ahead of Gambia clash
- Wednesday, 16 May 2012
- Written by Modou Lamin Beyai
Eric Gerets, the coach of the Moroccan National Team, has unveiled the list of players who will represent Morocco in the two next game for the World Cup qualifiers.
The Moroccan national team will play its first match against the Scorpions of The Gambia on 2 June 2012 and the second against the Ivory Coast on June 9, 2012 in Marrakech.
As hoped for by many Moroccans, many of the players who underperformed in the last African Cup of Nations were dropped from the list, at the forefront of which Arsenal forward Marouane Chamakh, Queens Park Rangers’ Adel Taarabt, Rennes’ Youssouf Hadji, Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez of Anzhi Makhachkala and Youssef Qantari.
On the other hand, the list includes, for the first time in many years, 12 players from the Moroccan national league, including 3 players from the Maghreb of Fez, which won the African Federation Cup and the African Super Cup.
The head coach of the Gambia national team Peter Bonu Johnson is yet to name his squad ahead of the Morocco showdown.
The list of players summoned by Coach Eric Gerets is as follows:
Goalkeeper: Nadir Lamyaghri (WAC Casablanca, Morocco), Issam Badda (FUS Rabat, Morocco), Aziz El Kinani (MA Tetouan, Morocco)
Defenders: Michael Chrétien (Bursaspor, Turkey), Ayoub El Khaliki (WAC Casablanca, Morocco), Rachid Soulaimani (Raja Casablanca, Morocco), Zakarya Bergdich (Lens, France), Mehdi Benatia (Udinese, Italy), Abdelfattah Boukhriss (FUS Rabat, Morocco), Ismail Benlamaalam (Raja Casablanca, Morocco), Salaheddine Saidi (FAR Rabat, Morocco), Mustapha Mrani (MAS Fès, Morocco), Samir Zekroumi (MAS Fès, Morocco)
Midfielders: Issam El Adoua (Vitoria Guimaraes, Portugal), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord Rotterdam, Holland), Adil Hermach (Al-Hilal, Saudi Arabia), Houssine Kharja (Fiorentina, Italy), Nordin Amrabat (Kayserispor, Turkey), Ismail Aissati (Ajax Amsterdam, Holland), Younes Belhanda (Montpellier, France), Mbark Boussoufa (Anzi Makhachkala, Russia), Chemseddine Chatibi (MAS Fès, Morocco), Oussama Assaïdi (Heerenveen, Holland), Abdelaziz Barrada (Getafe, Spain)
Strikers: Yassine Salhi (Raja Casablanca, Morocco), Youssef El Arabi (Al-Hilal, Saudi Arabia)