Hi, I hope this sub forum will have a thread like this for each team so we can learn more about each other. Probable squad : Goal keepers : 1st : Munir El Mohammadi (UD Numancia - Spain 2nd div) 2nd: Yassine Bounou (Girona - Spain 1st div) unsure 3rd : Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (IR Tanger - Morocco) Central backs : Mehdi Benatia (Juventus - Italy 1st) Romain Saiss (Wolves England 2nd) Manuel Da Costa (Basaksehir - Trukey 1st) Zouhair Feddal (Real Betis - Spain 1st) Amine Atouchi (Wydad Casablanca - Morocco) Badr Banoune (Raja Casablanca - Morocco) Jawad Yamiq (Raja Casablanca - Morocco) Right backs : Nabil Dirar (Fenerbahce - Turkey 1st) Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid - Spain 1st) Fouad Chafik (Dijon - France 1st) Oualid El Hajjam (Amiens - France 1st) Left backs : Hamza Mendyl (Lille - France 1st) Fayçal Rherras (Mechelen - Belgium 1st) Amine Khammas (Genk - Belgium 1st) Mohamed Nahiri (Wydad Casablanca - Morocco) Central Midfielders : Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord - Netherlands 1st) Mbark Boussoufa (Al Jazira - UAE 1st) Younes Belhanda (Galatasaray - Turkey 1st) Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord - Netherlands 1st) Youssef Ait Bennasser (Caen - France 1st) Fayçal Fajr (Getafe - Spain 1st) Omar El Kaddouri (PAOK - Greece 1st) Yassine Ayoub (Utrecht - Netherlands 1st) Attacking midfielders - Wingers : Hakim Ziyech (Ajax - Netherlands 1st) Nordin Amrabat (Leganes - Spain 1st) Sofiane Boufal (Southampton - England 1st) Amine Harit (Schalke 04 - Germany 1st) Oussama Tannane (Las Palmas - Spain 1st) Ismail El Haddad (Wydad Casablanca - Morocco) Mohamed Ounajem (Wydad Casablanca - Morocco) Forwards : Khalid Boutaib (Malatyaspor - Turkey 1st) Mimoun Mahi (Groningen - Netherlands 1st) Walid Azaro (Al Ahly - Egypt 1st) Youssef El Arabi (Duhail - Qatar 1st) Rachid Alioui (Nimes - France 2nd) Aziz Bouhaddouz (St Pauli - Germany 2nd) Achraf Bencharki (Wydad Casablanca - Morocco)
Best 11 with key players in bold Munir Dirar Benatia Saiss Hakimi El Ahmadi Boussoufa Ziyech Belhanda N. Amrabat Boutaib
I only knew El Ahmadi, Benatia, Boussoufa, Ziyech and a couple more players like Boufal and Belhanda. How do you rate Belhanda, Boufal and El Ahmadi? Btw, your CB, Manuel Da Costa, was our 4th striker, Karim Ansarifard, teammate in Olympiacos.
NT players who scored last week: Achraf Hakimi (La Liga - Real Madrid 5 - 0 Sevilla) Khalid Boutaib (Super Lig - Malatyaspor 2 - 3 Goztepe) Younes Belhanda (Super Lig - Galatasaray 4 - 2 Akhisar) Walid Azaro (Egypt League - Al Ahly 2 - 3 Makassa) Yacine Bammou (Ligue 1 - Nantes 1 - 2 Nice) Youssef El Arabi (Qatar Cup - Al Khor 0 - 8 Duhail) 6 goals (not counting this one, it's embarrassing)
El Ahmadi is very important for our team now that he reached his peak, he's been international since U20 as he played the 2005 U20 world cup in which Morocco reached the 1/2 final. Belhanda is OK but not good enough to start IMO, he used to be good in 2012 but now he's unsteady and tends to bee too nervous in the pitch. I'd prefer to see Harit instead. Boufal is a good option for the 30 last minutes, I don't see him as a starter and our coach only used him once in the WC Qualifiers. Nordin Amrabat is preferred for his participation to the defensive part of the job.
Belhanda doesn't play as a 10 in the NT. I also don't like him, too agressiv. I would like to see Harit on the right and Ziyech as 10. I hope Taarabt and Labyad will get called up for the test matches.
He did until Renard recently switched his midfield to a 6-8-8 midfield. Taarabt will probably be tested in Mars (friendlies against Serbia and Uzbekistan were scheduled) and Labyad would be a good option as well. We don't know if there won't be injuries right before the World Cup and we need to have replacement tested and ready.
Scorers last week : Oussama Assaidi (left winger of Twente) scored twice and was selected in the week's best 11 along with Hakim Ziyech (Ajax) who scored as well Mohamed Aberhoun (CB at Moreirense) scored in a cup game. Atif Chahechouhe (attacking midfielder at Fenerbahce) scored in a cup game Walid Azaro (FW at Al Ahly Cairo) scored in a league game Khalid Boutaib (FW at Malatyaspor) scored against Galasaray in the league Amine Harit didn't score but he did well enough with Schalke 04 to be selected in the Bundesliga best 11 of the week
I appreciate the info and updates about Morocco's team and players. Anyway, this was Morocco's lineup in their last match against the Ivory Coast, in a 4-3-3 formation. Munir -- Hakimi, Benatia, Sais, Dirar -- El Ahmadi - Belhanda, Boussoufa -- Zyech, Amrabat - Boutaib (Bencharki for Boutaib (75'), S.Amrabat for Zyech (82'), and Fajr for Belhanda (90'). . Amin Harit, who is preferred by pogoss and MarcoFan to Belhanda, has only really played in one match for Morocco, namely their friendly against South Korea (he played a minute in a game as a late sub against Gabon as well). But he does appear to be a player who could conceivably replace Belhanda in Morocco's starting lineup. Indeed, given that Morocco's so-called bench players did well against South Korea, I wouldn't be surprised to see many others among them take the place of other players in Morocco's starting lineup. As for key players for Morocco, although the transfer market value of El Ahmadi (Ajax) is only 4 million Euro (which is lower than many of their other players), he does appear to be the linchpin and a key player in their squad. Since El Ahmadi plays in the Eredivisie alongside Iran's Jahanbakhsh (AZ Alkmaar, transfer market value 5.5 million Euro) and Ghoochannejad (Heerenveen, transfer market value 3 million Euro), some of our players would have played against him. Indeed, Jahanbakh's team played Ajax a few days ago, losing 2:1 with Jahanbakhsh scoring for them from the penalty spot. Of course, the player who plays a similar post and is probably most comparable to Jahanbakhsh is another Ajax player, Ziyech, whose transfer market value is around 15 million Euro (tied for highest for Morocco with a 2-3 others). Incidentally, this was the Eredivisie's team of the season last year. Jahanbakhsh wasn't on the list but Iran's Ghoochannejad was, alongside both Ziyech and El Ahmadi from Morocco.
Here's a list of players I think we should look at and give a chance before finalising our squad for the world cup Kevin Malcuit (still hasn't chosen for Morocco, but could be tempted to go to the WC, as we need backs) Adam Masina (still plays for Italy u23, but could be tempted with a WC spot as we need more backs) Taarabt (the lost son. Seems to have found back his flair at Genoa. Spanish clubs (Valancia, Villareal and Sevilla) are lining up to sign him this Januari) Zekhini (Fiorintina player who plays for Norway said he could opt for Morocco) Zakaria Labyad. (Ex Sporting Portugal and Fullham player. Went for a foreign adventure when just 18. Far too early, but matured alot since then and is rumoured to make a transfer to Ajax this Januari) Assaidi (Ex- Liverpool and Stoke. Went to the Gulf to make some fast money, but totally lost his condition. Since soming back to the eredivisie it took him a whole season, but he is slowly getting his old from back) El Zhar (ex-Liverpool, currently Leganes players. Plays with Moroccan international Amrabat. He looks the more threathening one of the 2 when playing together. Chehchouh Fellow player of Dirar at Fenerbache. Ayoub (FC Utrecht is wanted by the top 3 teams in the Eredivisie, but probably will go to Fenerbache in Januari) Khayatyi Decent Eredivisie striker Namli (featured in alot of "teams of the first season half" by Dutch football experts.) Ayman Barkouk (Still plays for the German u23 squad, but could be tempted with WC spot) el Arabi (Had a couple of difficult years, but seems to have gotten his goals scoring ability back) Hamdallah ( Don't understand why he never was called by HR. Always played decent with Morocco. Has been the Topscorer in any leaugue he played in) Ait Bennasser ( Monaco player, currently on loan with Caen, where he caught the eyes of Arsenal, Everton and more) el Ghazi (Is in the same situation as Munir. Played official matches for the Dutch team, but doesn't feature in their plans at this moment)
Amine Harit is ahead in the vote for the best midfielder of the first half of the Bundesliga season https://sport.sky.de/fussball/artik...pieler-der-hinrunde/11177660/34089?wkz=WXFNL1 Taarabt could go to Spain in januari https://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/serie-a/genoa-valencia-villarreal-e-siviglia-su-taarabt-1058159 Saiss and Boufal scored yesterday Manuel Da Costa played today, but lost 3-1 and is out of the Turkish Cup Ait Bennasser is wanted by alot of clubs http://www.footmercato.net/ligue-1/...se-bouscule-pour-youssef-ait-bennasser_216813 Fener wants Ayoub https://www.voetbalprimeur.nl/nieuw...kunnen-overtuigen-met-half-miljoen-euro-.html Labyad could go to Ajax http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=319598http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=319598 Arsenal is willing to pay 40 million for Benatia but Juve is not interested in selling https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/5213842/benatia-arsenal-bid-rejected-juventus/ Inter Milan wants to pay between 15 and 20 million in januari. Very unlikely they will accept as they dismissed an offer from Dortmund of 35 million http://www.soccernews.nl/news/419565/ook-ziyech-kan-toptransfer-maken-in-januari
Liverpool linked to Romain Saiss http://readliverpoolfc.com/2017/11/20/liverpool-linked-romain-saiss/
El Ahmadi wins "man of the year" https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/ik-hoop-dat-nederlanders-marokko-zullen-steunen-op-het-wk Bencharki can go to the Portugese, French, Belgian, Dutch or Swiss competition http://www.11lions.nl/bencharki-heb-aanbiedingen-gehad-uit-frankrijk-portugal-en-nederland/
Malcuit was contacted before and he prefers France, should we beg him ? Masina has no other ties with Morocco than the parents who abandoned him. Although born in Morocco he knows nothing about the country he was too young when adopted by Italian to remember anything so why would he play for Morocco ? Zekhnini even if he wanted to play for Morocco he's not good enough yet. Zakaria Labyad is being supervised, he may have a chance to come back to the NT for next friendlies Oussama Assaidi I'm not optimistic to see him again in the NT, he lost too much time in the gulf and I don't see him take Boufal or Amrabat's place. Nabil El Zhar is correct but not good enough to return to the NT IMO. Same for Aatif Chahechouhe. Youssef El Arabi, he's scoring a lot of goals and I've seen them all, none of those goals was impressive, it only showed how weak the opponents were. He's not even running and I don't expect him to return to the NT either. Abderrazak Hamdallah the other players don't like him and he's playing in Qatar too so I don't expect him back either. Ait Bennasser is already in the group, he'll be in Russia if he's not injured. El Ghazi can't play for Morocco anymore, he played two official games with Netherlands A.
there is no loophole, the FRMF wants the FIFA to change the rules to have El Haddadi and I want Renard to call me among the 23 for the World Cup. It's not forbidden to dream.
Kevin Malcuit did indeed not want to play in the AFCON for Morocco last year, but this is the World Cup. So things can change. Thats what Renard is also hoping https://fr.starafrica.com/football/articles/maroc-renard-ne-lache-kevin-malcuit/ The same goes for Masina http://lionsdelatlas.ma/22723-le-dossier-d-adam-masina-de-nouveau-relance-par-la-frmf As for Zekhnini, I'm not saying he's good enough right now. I think he should get a chance in a friendly to show what he's got. He certainly wil be an asset in the future. Same goes for Assaidi. Always played decent with Morocco and certainly deserves a chance in a friendly. Hamdellah could go to Rennes this transferwindow https://soccer212site.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/hamedallah-la-solution-pour-lamouchi-a-rennes/ Im not aware of any quarrel between him and other players, but even then everybody deserves a second chance I agree that its less likely that el Ghazi to join Morocco than for Munir, but the FRMF is still looking at any possibility http://lionsdelatlas.ma/21072-la-frmf-se-penche-sur-le-dossier-complexe-d-anwar-el-ghazi
Mahi crowned topscorer in the Eredivisie for the year 2017 https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/mahi-en-van-ginkel-geven-spitsen-het-nakijken-op-topscorerslijst Lots of interest for Mimoun Mahi. Especially from England and Turkey. He'll most likelly will make a transfer this transferwindow http://www.v-bal.nl/nieuws/296927/c...voetbalnieuws,+uitslagen+en+spelersprofielen) After Fenerbache another team from Turkey is interested in Ayoub http://mountakhab.net/www/modules/article_une/index.php?storyid=473957 Tannane told to leave Las Palmas by their new trainer after being 2x late . Most likely won't see him back in the WC squad Moroccan youngster Reda Jaadi is linked with FC Koln http://mountakhab.net/www/modules/article_une/index.php?storyid=473948
Aren't you a bit bothered though that you have almost no Moroccan-born players in the squad? BTW Nice set of players. Players like Ziyech, Hakimi, Miha, Boutaib and the revelation of the season in Germany Harit are all coming in from leftside. Morocco could really be big surprise dark horse for 2018.