CASABLANCA: Morocco has fired its football coach Vahid Halilhodzic just three months before the country competes in the World Cup finals in Qatar.

The announcement by the Moroccan football federation on Thursday ends months of speculation over the fate of the Franco-Bosnian coach, who has now suffered the extraordinary feat of being fired three times by national teams after they qualified for World Cup finals.

“Given the differences and divergent visions between the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and national coach Vahid Halilhodzic on the best way to prepare the national football team for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the two parties decided to separate,” the federation said in a statement.

Halilhodzic’s possible departure had been the cause of much speculation since Morocco’s tepid showing at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in January and, in particular, his handling of two of his star players.

He sidelined Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech and Noussair Mazraoui of Ajax for disciplinary reasons and qualified for the World Cup without them but it seems the federation wanted them back.

Neither Ziyech and Mazraoui were part of the squad that reached the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon in January and Halilhodzic omitted both from the World Cup qualifying play-off matches against the Democratic Republic of Congo in March.

Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa has been pressing for a return of Dutch-born midfielder Ziyech amid a public outcry at his absence, putting him at odds with his coach, who was appointed to the Morocco job three years ago.

Halilhodzic’s brusque manner was cited as the reason for Japan firing him after he had qualified them for the last World Cup in Russia. He was dismissed just two months before the 2018 finals with the Japanese Football Association citing “communication” problems and claiming he had lost the trust of his players.

Halilhodzic, who played for Yugoslavia at the 1982 World Cup and was later a successful striker in France, was also dismissed by the Ivory Coast ahead of the 2010 finals in South Africa and replaced by Sven Goran Eriksson. That came after the Ivorians had fared poorly at the Cup of Nations finals some six months before the World Cup.

He did take Algeria to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where they came close to an upset victory over Germany in the last 16.

Morocco is expected to name its former international Walid Regragui as its new coach. He led Wydad Casablanca to the African Champions League crown in May.

The World Cup starts November 20 in Qatar where Morocco take on Croatia, Belgium and Canada in Group ‘F’.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2022