No place for Taarabt, Chamakh
by Claudia Ekai 26 December 2012, 15:08
Moroccan coach Rachid Taoussi has excluded Captain Hussein Kharja, Arsenal forward Marouane Chamakh and QPR striker Adel Taarabt from the Africa Cup of Nations squad.
The squad which was revealed on Wednesday by the Moroccan FA, will indeed cause ripples as the leader of the team has been axed and will not be at Afcon in South Africa.
Earlier this week, Taarabt told Casablanca-based Radio Mars that he did not want to be the main reason for the failure of the Atlas Lions as quoted by Moroccan World news.
“I learned that Taoussi met with Ahmadi and Saidi. I received a text message (SMS) three weeks ago from the national coach. As I did not know the source of the message, I called the number and found out that it was Taoussi, who told me that he would contact me within twenty minutes. I waited the whole day without receiving any phone call.”
“Taoussi called me three days ago and did not answer him, then I received a text message in which he told me that he wants to meet me, but I did not want to answer him nor to meet him.”
Morocco is grouped alongside hosts South Africa, Cape Verde and Angola as the tournament is set to kick off in less than a month.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Khalid Askri , Nadir Lamyaghri, Ana Znaiti
Defenders: Younes Belakhdar, Abderahim Achchakir, Zakaria Bergdich, Abdelhamid El Kaoutari, Mehdi Benatia, Issam El Adoua, Ahmed Kantari.
Midfielders: Adil Hermach, Karim El Ahmadi, Younes Belhanda, Mehdi Namli, Kamel Chafni, Chakhir Belghazouani, Hamza Hafidi.
Strikers: Oussama Assaidi, Nordin Amrabat, Abderazzak Hamdallah, Abdelaziz Barrada, Youssef El Arabi, Mounir El Hamdaoui, Youssef Kaddioui.
