The vast majority of the squad that go to the World Cup semifinal last year and beat Brazil in a friendly in March have been named by Morocco coach Walid Regragui for their clash against South Africa at Soccer City on June 17.
But he has also been forced to name five new players in a 28-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, plus a warm-up friendly against the Cape Verde Islands.
Both Morocco and South Africa have already qualified for next year’s Cup of Nations finals but Morocco still have most of their World Cup stars, including Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech, flying full-back Achraf Hakimi and midfield trojan Sofyan Amrabat in the squad, plus the pair of goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and striker Youssef En-Nesyri, who helped their Spanish club Sevilla win the Europa League on Wednesday.
Morocco will face the Cape Verde in a friendly match on June 12 in Rabat to prepare for their trip to South Africa.
They had two friendlies in March, which were their first matches since their World Cup heroics, beating Brazil 1-0 in Tangiers and drawing 0-0 with Peru in Madrid.
The clash with Bafana Bafana will be Morocco’s first competitive match since the World Cup in Qatar, where last December they became the first African country to reach the semifinal.
Regragui has rewarded Wydad Casablanca goalkeeper Youssef El Motie for his stellar performance in the African Champions League with a first call-up and also promoted from the under-23 team the Belgian-based defender Ismael Kandouss, who this weekend will be looking to help Union Saint Gilloise win the league.
Also picked for a first time are defender El Mehdi Benabid from Morocco league leaders Royal Armed Forces, Abdel Abqar from Deportivo Alaves in Spain and Fahd Moufi, who plays in Portugal.
Left-back Adam Masina and striker Tarik Tissoudali, who both missed out on the World Cup because of injury, are back in the squad, along with winger Oussama Idrissi, whose last cap was in 2019. He helped Feyenoord to win the Dutch championship last month.
Uncappped Lecce midfielder Youssef Maleh, who has had one previous call-up two years ago, has also been recalled.
SQUAD:
Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou (Sevilla, Spain), Munir El Kajoui (Al Wehda, Saudi Arabia), Youssef El Motie (Wydad Casablanca)
Defenders: Abdel Abqar (Deportivo Alaves, Spain), El Mehdi Benabid (Royal Armed Forces), Nayef Aguerd (West Ham United, England), Achraf Dari (Stade Brest, France), Jawad El Yamiq (Real Valladolid, Spain), Achraf Hakimi (Paris St Germain, France), Ismael Kandouss (Union Saint Gilloise, Belgium), Adam Masina (Udinese, Italy), Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich, Germany), Fahd Moufi (Portimonense, Portugal), Romain Saiss (Besiktas, Turkey)
Midfielders: Sofyan Amrabat (Fiorentina, Italy), Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers, England), Oussama Idrissi (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Imran Louza (Watford, England), Youssef Maleh (Lecce, Italy), Abdelhamid Sabiri (Sampdoria, Italy), Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea, England)
Forwards: Zakaria Aboukhlal (Toulouse, France), Soufiane Boufal (Al Rayyan, Qatar), Walid Cheddira (Bari, Italy), Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla, Spain), Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al Ittihad), Tarik Tissadouli (KAA Gent, Belgium), Anas Zaroury (Burnley, England).
