International Friendly: Morocco V. Northern Ireland
The Moroccan National Team is in Belfast and ready to take on Northern Ireland, in an international friendly match ahead of the CAN-2012 qualifier against neighboring Algeria. This will be the first opportunity for new coach Eric Gerets to assess his selection, a test match of sorts for the legendary Belgian boss.
the Atlas Lions’ next official match against the Fennec Foxes of Algeria will take place in March 2011. But before the preparations commence, Eric Gerets would like to add the final touches to his training blueprint. Time is no doubt of the essence. The Belgian headman has preferred to retain most of same players who have featured in the last three matches under assistant coach Dominique Cuperly. However, in addition to longstanding keeper Nadir Lamyaghri, an apt backup has finally entered the fray. Ahmed Mohamedina the goalkeeping denizen of Olympique Khouribga Mohamedin has been called and will be on guard, lest anything happens with Lamyaghri. Among the domestic Moroccan Botola league players, only two Raja Casablanca or Rajaouis will travel, Morad Ainy and Rachid Soulaimani were selected from the group and should play tomorrow.
Regarding overseas selections, two fresh recruits arrive in the form of Nacer Chadli (FC Twente) and Younis Belhanda (Montpellier). If most observers are to be believed, these two players are rapidly developing, hence the quick callup from Gerets. Indeed, Nacer Chadli is coming off a memorable stretch in the Dutch league as well as in the Champions League, whilst Younis Belhanda was voted by player of the month of October by Montpellier supporters.
One player to keep an eye on is Adil Hermach (RC Lens). The young defensive midfielder has been on fire at Lens, anchoring the midfield whilst ascending to the captain’s armband for the French northern giants.
On another note, Franco-Moroccan defender Younes Kaboul (Tottenham) has chosen to play for the French National Team and will feature in Les Bleus friendly tomorrow against England. Eric Gerets was interested in the strong center-half but France boss Laurent Blanc apparently beat him to the punch.
The Northern Irish clash, the first with Gerets on the bench, will also take stock of the homogeneity born out in the starting eleven.
If the Moroccan NT is full of talent, one of its notable weaknesses is its lack of cohesion and chemistry at the moment. This glaring deficit has penalized the Atlas Lions in the past few years and the problem persists. Finding the right formula to bring about said cohesion is one of the main priorities of the new coach. “I will never accept players who do not fight for the entire squad,” he recently warned at a press conference held in the beach town of Skhirate in northern Morocco.
And so, the Gerets era finally begins.
The National Squad: Lamyagri, Chadli, Chamakh, Kharja, Kantari, Kaddouri, Benatia, Hermach, Souleimani, Belhanda, Hadji, Mohammedina, Ainy, Benzoukane, El arabi, Berrabeh, Salamat, El Ahmadi, Serhane, El Zhar
Injuries: Mbarak Boussoufa, Michaël Basser Chrétien, Mounir El Hamdaoui and Adel Taarabt are all out with varying injuries.
Viewing Options: Broadcast at 20:45 GMT on SkySports2 and RTM1.
Streaming here: http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=95156&part=sports
More Morocco News
Eric Gerets arrives

Arriving in Morocco earlier this week Eric Gerets held his first press conference on Tuesday night. With the direct manner many are accustomed to from the Belgian headman, Gerets described his plans for the young Atlas Lions. Finally free of all ties with Saudi club al-hilal, coach Gerets speaks of the beginning ... [read more]
Morocco tops group D with win

A satisfying victory on Saturday in Dar es Salaam has put the Atlas Lions atop Group D in the African Cup of Nations Qualifiers. One day later saw the Central African Republic surprisingly defeat Algeria in Bangui to join the Moroccans in pole position in the group.
It was Morocco’s first victory in ... [read more]
Morocco ascends to 37th position in FIFA ranking
Rabat, July 2 – Moroccan soccer team has ascended three places in the new world FIFA ranking, from the 40th position to the 37th, with a total of 689 points.
At the Arab level, the Moroccan team came second after Egypt, while it ranked 6th in Africa after Cameroon, ... [read more]
CAN/World Cup qualifiers: Morocco bests Rwanda to lead Group
Casablanca, June 23 – Morocco bested Rwanda 2-0 at the fourth game of the 2010 FIFA world cup/Africa nations’ cup qualifiers to join the Amavubi Stars at the leadership.
Seeking to take revenge over Rwanda after the large 3-1 defeat in Kigali, the Moroccans put their feet down on ... [read more]
CAN/World Cup qualifiers: Morocco stumbles in Rwanda
Kigali, June 16 – Moroccan squad on Saturday stumbled 1-3 before Rwanda in their third game of the 2010 FIFA world cup/Africa nations’ cup qualifiers.
14th minutes into the first half, striker Elias Ntaganda got the opener for the locals to set the stadium alight, while his teammate ... [read more]
Club Football News
Chelsea's Next: Josh Turnbull
While the big news of the day is that Chelsea is free to go after a fifty year old child manager of the utmost ability, it's backup keeper Ross Turnbull's son Josh who is stealing the show. After the final match there were some festivities on the pitch. Josh didn't ...
The Munich Philharmonic's Ode To Bayern
The Munich Philharmonic penned this little aria for their boys heading to England for the grandest match of the year on Saturday. Bounding around Google has surfaced nothing in the way of an English translation for the lyrics, but it's worth it simply to watch someone work 'Heynckes' into a ...
Jose Mourinho Does "Who? Me?" Better Than Anyone
During this evening's Copa del Rey final, won by Atletico Madrid in extra time at the Bernabeu (big win, that one), Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo were both sent off. The latter was unjustified, though Cristiano probably could've been sent off for kicking Juanfran off the ball earlier, and there's ...
Heineken Offers Up An Impossible Task
This might be better than the Champions League final itself. Heineken decided to run a gag where if a guy could get his girl to go along with buying stadium seats for $1899, he would win tickets to the final in London. One man actually rose above the odds - ...
Europa League Final 2013: Freestlying Amsterdam
The people who whip up these fancy second-tier finals (UEFA. They're called UEFA.) concocted a nice little PR thingamajig by pairing one fan from Benfica and one fan from Chelsea with a top notch freestyler in a race through Amsterdam to the Arena. They would hope to determine a winner ...
The Portland Timbers Are Winning Football
Just days after the club granted a young boy with cancer his Make-A-Wish wish a friendly against the senior side, the fans of the Portland came up with a choreograph. Only it's not your typical collective - this one was for gay tolerance, fresh on the heels of the spate ...
Radu Mitu Fights The Wind. The Wind I Tell You.
The Moldovan first division. An eighteen year-old kid named Radu Mitu making his professional debut. This happens. It's like watching a three-legged dog fall to the back of the pack as it tries to run a race. The wind took it. Just...the wind took it. Hopefully Radu has a great sense of ...
Zlatan & Leonardo, Sittin' In A Tree
Leonardo, the PSG director not the Ninja Turtle, isn't exactly having a fine few weeks. After Thiago Silva was sent off for lightly placing his hands on the referee last week, Leonardo decided it would be a smart idea to bump the referee in the tunnel. This may result in ...
USER COMMENTS
Qualifying Morocco for African Nations Cup and 2010 World Cup, 'one of our priorities' Lemerre
Helpful site, even though I would like to see a little more media! ... [Read More]Qualifying Morocco for African Nations Cup and 2010 World Cup, 'one of our priorities' Lemerre
Increase Your Ranking & Link Popularity Quickly Super Directory Submitter 40000 is a directory ... [Read More]Morocco ascends to 37th position in FIFA ranking
ciao da scorzè http://arachesostufodue.blogspot.com/ ... [Read More]CAN/World Cup qualifiers: Morocco bests Rwanda to lead Group
I remember when you thrashed Belgium 4-1.CAN/World Cup qualifiers: Morocco bests Rwanda to lead Group
what do you find of your new coach Roger Lemerre ?

World




