By Jamal Elabiad
One of the questions I ask myself whenever I watch a disappointing match of our national soccer team is why some players, though they they are among the best players across Europe, seem as if it’s the first time they played football, and sometimes you doubt if they are playing for or against Morocco!
“…Let me recall that it was a success with Homane and Bamous in 70 ; Baba et Faras en 1976 , Bouderbala , Krimau , Khairi in 1986 ; Bassir ,Camacho and Tahar in 98 and there is no reason why the 2009 generation will not succeed,” Said Hassan Moumen, coach of the Atlas Lions, when asked why the results remain negative despite the involvement of many high-calibre international players, including Marouane Chamakh, Mounir El Hamdaoui, and Youssef Hajji. More details on the interview are available at this link: http://www.cafonline.com/football/news/3292-hassan-moumen-moroccan-coach-heading-to-lome-for-a-win.html.
It’s really a pity that Hassan Moumen sees no difference between today’s Moroccan football team players and those of yesteryear!
Most of 1970s and 1980s footballers became famous and football stars in Morocco, not after they entered the world of professionalism. And seldom did they lose to an African football team simply because they knew quite well both the weaknesses and strengths of their African rivals.
As regards today’s Moroccan football team players, the majority were born and raised in Europe. That’s why they know next to nothing about the peculiarities of African football. In other words, the Lions of Atals invariably play with African football teams in order to qualify for the World Cup or the African Nations Cup. Therefore, most players must be familiar with the “hows” of playing football in Africa.
The killing mistake that those in charge of the Moroccan national team always make is selecting players who don’t know that the particularities of African football are quite different from European ones. For instance, an African player has no trouble playing a match in hot weather, but a European player is unaccustomed to playing football when it’s burning .
Some people jumped to the conclusion that the Europe-based players who put down the invitation to join the Moroccan soccer team don’t love their country or something like this. But why don’t we say that those players refused because they know they are football stars, but only in the European sense of the word!
“The reforms in Moroccan football need to start with the clubs who are in need of financial means, and are moving backwards on the continental and regional levels. They are no longer playing their full role in providing the national team with players,” the 1998 African Ballon d’Or winner Mustapha Hajji recently explained in an interview with Tunisian newspaper Assabah.
It’s plain clear from Mustapha’s words that the Moroccan national team will not return to its glory days till the Moroccan Royal Federation of Football (FRMF) depends on players belonging to Moroccan football clubs.
Truth be told, I started collecting information to write this piece two days before Gabon thrashed Morocco (3-1) in Libreville. And I wouldn’t stop writing it even if it was the Atlas Lions that won the match, for I know, like many others, that their victory will just be a flash in the pan…!