Rabat – AFP
Real Madrid striker Ibrahim Diaz, who holds Spanish nationality, was called up to the Moroccan national football team on Wednesday for the first time to play two friendly matches against Angola and Mauritania.
Diaz (24 years old) is scheduled to start defending the colors of Morocco, instead of Spain, which he represented once in the friendly win over Lithuania 4-0 in 2021 in a match in which the young team under 21 years old was called up, because the players of the first team were isolated due to the pandemic. “Covid-19.”
The newspaper “Marca” indicated on Monday that Diaz chose to represent Morocco because he was “ignored” by the Spanish Federation and the “La Roja” team.
For its part, Radio Cadena said that “he was not contacted, neither by Luis Enrique nor by Luis de la Fuente (the former and current coaches of the La Roja national team).”
According to the AS newspaper, Diaz made his final decision after the Spanish Football Federation refused to inform him, before the rest of the other international players, if his name was included in the national team’s list for the two friendly matches against Colombia on March 22 in London and Brazil on March 23 in Madrid. .
La Roja coach De La Fuente said on Monday, in response to a question about the issue during his participation in a forum organized at a university, “I respect his position. Everyone is free to make their decisions.”
He continued, “There are three criteria for selection: the first is that you are qualified to play with the national team, the second is the desire to do so, and the third is that the coach calls the player. But the most important thing is that the player wants to do so, without conditions or requirements, in order to ensure equality of rights and duties with the rest of the group.”
Elias Ben Sghir (19 years old), who plays for Monaco in France, was also summoned to the list published by the Moroccan Football Federation, noting that he had previously represented the French national team under the age of 18.
In addition to them, the Moroccan national team roster witnessed the return of the brilliant Emirati club Al Ain striker Sufyan Rahimi, who scored three goals in Al Ain’s last two matches in the AFC Champions League, contributing to their qualification to the semi-finals at the expense of Saudi club Al Nassr.
On the other hand, defender and captain Romain Saiss (Al-Shabab, Saudi Arabia), midfielders Salim Amalah (Valencia, Spain), and Amine Harith (Marseille, France), in addition to Bayern Munich defender Nassir Mazraoui, were all absent.
The “Atlas Lions” will play Angola on March 22, then Mauritania four days later.
Coach Walid Regragui faced criticism for some of his choices after the disappointing exit from the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast at the beginning of the year, but the Moroccan Federation renewed its confidence in him to continue at the head of the technical management of the Atlas Lions.
After reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar under the leadership of Regragui, in a precedent for African and Arab teams, the Lions were unable to exceed the eighth final of the African Nations Championship and were defeated by South Africa 0-2, which left great disappointment in Morocco.
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