Halilhodzic to leave Morocco post over Ziyech row

'No one is bigger than the team' – that’s the most used sentence of any coach/player/executive, when they want to sell/punish a player, or when they want to ‘rally the troops’ ahead of some big match. And the phase is basically true, but it doesn’t mean that all who say it actually apply it. Just look at Morocco. Their head coach Vahid Halilhodzic managed to secure them a place in the World Cup in Qatar, and eliminated some ‘stars’ in the process, since ‘no one is bigger than the team’, but is on the verge of leaving since apparently, some players appeared to be bigger than the team.

As per L’Equipe, Vaha is currently negotiating his departure with the president of the Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa. The latter promised supporters the return of Chelsea attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech (29 years old, 40 caps, 17 goals), in latent conflict with Halilhodzic almost since taking office. It is this conflict that is the driving force behind the almost official departure of Halilhodzic. The favorite to replace him is Walid Regragui, the coach of WAC Casablanca, who had a successful XXL season with a Championship – African Champions League double. This is also a form a personal defeat for Hallihodzic, who is one of the most successful national coaches, who managed to lead four different nations to a World Cup, but got sacked three times before the World Cup actually took place. After Ivory Coast and Japan, this will be the third selection who will play in FIFA’s biggest competition without Vaha.

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As soon as he took over the selection in 2019, problems with Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) and Noussair Mazraoui (now Bayern) appeared and they were banished from the team for ‘unaccaptable behaviour’ and even thou he managed to secure the World Cup place, he lost the public support.

“When I arrived in the national team, the atmosphere was not good. I asked the players: Aren't you ashamed that you don't know your country's national anthem? Many learned it later. I forbade them from going out at night, smoking, playing playstation all night... I'd rather impose bans on them than let them do what they want. I tell them that the national team is sacred, but it's obvious that only Vahid is a problem for some” he said in May this year.

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Back in April, The FA president said, as reported by Dutch outlet NU: "There are problems that need to be solved. We will do so in order for Ziyech and Mazraoui to return to the national team. They are still Morocco players, and two of the best in the squad. No-one can dispute how good they are. Problems can always arise in any group of 50 people. We will resolve them in the best way, so that the national team becomes the pride of all Moroccans. Vahid has our support for now, but nothing is set in stone. You can't say that he is untouchable or irreplaceable. When the time is right we will make a decision about him".

Mazraoui has been called back since, but there was no progress with Ziyech and Fouzi Lekjaa obviously thought it was vise to let a successful coach with principles go and bring back public support and Ziyech. Time will be the judge.