Ziyech left out of Morocco squad for AFCON
Hakim
Ziyech was the notable absentee as Morocco coach Vahid Halilhodzic on Thursday
named his squad for next month's Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon.
The Chelsea
winger had a fallout with the coach earlier this year and was overlooked for
the six World Cup qualifiers played between September and November, making his
omission no shock although the Dutch-born Ziyech is seen as Morocco's key
player.
Halilhodzic
also left out the Ajax Amsterdam full back Noussair Mazraoui, who he also
accused in mid-year of feigning injury to get out of playing in a friendly, an
accusation Mazraoui has since denied.
The veteran
coach sprung a surprise by naming Abdessamad Ezzalzouli, who has broken into
Barcelona's team, and attacking midfielder Azzedine Ounahi, who has been one of
the players key to Angers' bright start to the Ligue 1 season in France. Both
are uncapped.
Morocco,
who will be one of the pre-tournament favourites, compete in Group C with
Comoros Islands, Gabon and Ghana at the finals, which get underway on Jan. 9.
SQUAD:
Goalkeepers:
Yassine Bounou (Sevilla), Munir (Hatayspor), Anas Zniti (Raja Casablanca)
Defenders:
Nayef Aguerd (Stade Rennes), Sofiane Alakouch (Metz), Sofian Chakla (OH
Leuven), Souffian El Karouani (NEC Nijmegen), Achraf Hakimi (Paris St Germain),
Adam Masina (Watford), Samy Mmaee (Ferencvaros), Romain Saiss (Wolverhampton
Wanderers)
Midfielders:
Selim Amallah (Standard Liege), Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina), Aymen Barkok
(Eintracht Frankfurt), Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers), Faycal Fajr
(Sivasspor), Imran Louza (Watford), Azzedine Ounahi (Angers)
Forwards:
Zakaria Aboukhlal (AZ Alkmaar), Sofiane Boufal (Angers), Munir El Haddadi
(Sevilla), Ayoub El Kaabi (Hatayspor), Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla), Abdessamad
Ezzalzouli (Barcelona), Ryan Mmaee (Ferencvaros).
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