(Rabat) Chelsea attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech will make a comeback with Morocco after announcing his international retirement due to a falling out with ex-coach Vahid Halilhodzic, new coach Walid Regragui announced on Monday.
Posted at 10:01 a.m.
“Communication between us was clear. I explained to him that we want the best players in the national team, he is one of them. He wanted to come back, ”said Regragui, appointed at the end of August at the head of the Atlas Lions, during a press conference in Rabat.
“He is a player who loves his country and he proved it from his beginnings by choosing to defend the colors of Morocco”, added the coach, during the presentation of his selection for the friendly matches against Chile and Paraguay, last gathering before the World Cup in Qatar.
The 28-year-old Moroccan star announced his international retirement in early February following an incompatibility of temper with Vahid Halilhodzic who accused him of a “lack of respect” threatening, according to him, the cohesion of the group.
Mr. Regragui also recalled Younès Belhanda, the midfielder of the Turkish club Adana Demirspor, who was also cold with the former Franco-Bosnian coach.
“He’s a player who has experience, he’s in good shape and he has the ‘grinta'”, commented Regragui.
Vahid Halilhodzic was ousted on August 11 from the Moroccan national team due to “divergence of points of view” with the Moroccan Football Federation (FRFM), in favor of Ziyech’s return.
In Qatar, Walid Regragui, a former Moroccan international who worked for several French clubs, will carry the expectations of an entire football fanatic nation and will try to lead the Atlas Lions as far as their predecessors in 1986, the first African team in the history to reach an eighth final of the World Cup.
Placed in group F, Morocco will face Croatia, Belgium and Canada.