Changes don’t happen overnight. They are often despised and attract criticism. Morocco boss Vahid Halilhodžić knew it would be the case and yet he wasn’t intimidated.
Upon his arrival in 2019, he was tasked with dealing with a significant generational change in this Morocco side.
Of the starting line-up that took the pitch in the first match of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, only goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, Wolves defender and now Morocco captain Romain Saïss and striker Youssef En-Nesyri remained.
‘I changed 85-90 per cent of the national team to form a collective that follows the philosophy and has the profile necessary to get results,’ Halilhodžić, who is competing in his third AFCON, told Sportsmail. ‘Time is needed.’
Morocco boss Vahid Halilhodžić (right) is targeting Africa Cup of Nations glory in Cameroon
Victory in their first two group games has fired Halilhodžić’s side through to the last-16
Halilhodžić has been met with a passionate environment where many have struggled to understand his choices, one being the decision to exile Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech.
‘Initially, people didn’t understand, but I knew what I was doing, and I only lost one friendly match in two and a half years,’ the Bosnian coach pointed out.
Halilhodžić isn’t the type to be consumed by pressure and has remained firm on his decision to leave Ziyech behind, despite surprise back in Morocco.
The Chelsea footballer has been sidelined since qualifying for AFCON for ‘disciplinary reasons’.
‘For me, the collective is more important,’ the manager stressed. ‘Anyone who doesn’t respect the team cannot play with me.
‘When you wear the national team jersey and behind you there are 38 million Moroccans who love that team and are proud of it, you cannot spoil its image. It’s important that everyone behaves correctly.’
Halilhodžić has previous having ruthlessly discarded some of the stars of the Algeria national team he managed back in 2011 – among them the former Portsmouth left back Nadir Belhadj.
Ziyech hasn’t left for Cameroon and, ultimately, Halilhodžić doesn’t seem to care.
Hakim Ziyech has been left out of the Morocco squad for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations
Ziyech posted a bemused ‘laughing emoji’ on his Instagram after he was previously axed but Morocco boss Halilhodzic has no regrets and believes his current group are now better off
When asked how much Ziyech is missing from this team and what alternatives he thought of after the winger’s exclusion, Halilhodžić replied that he didn’t think too much of it in truth.
‘Now we play faster and there is more off-the-ball movement,’ he said. ‘We have also gained more effectiveness in the six [2022] World Cup qualifying matches, scoring 20 goals and conceding only one.
‘The goals were scored by defenders, midfielders and forwards, because our strength is the collective and this is very important.’
Morocco have made a bright start in Cameroon with two wins in their first two matches of AFCON Group C have stretched their unbeaten run to 24 games.
The streak began with the draw against Spain at the 2018 World Cup, but this is a whole new team to the one that began this stretch.
‘I currently have a very interesting group of players at my disposal,’ said Halilhodžić.
‘Unfortunately, a couple of them are injured, some are recovering from an injury, others had Covid and some players aren’t in very good shape.’
The exemption granted to European clubs for the release of their African players from January 3 didn’t help either.
‘I hope that everyone can heal and reach a state of form which will allow us to continue our streak of consecutive wins [which are now nine], increase our self-esteem and create the conditions to achieve an excellent result in this AFCON.’
Although they have yet to face tougher opponents on the continent and outside of it, a look at the offensive effectiveness and defensive solidity that Morocco are achieving right now, the improvements of this new young group are already evident.
Halilhodžić is obsessed with establishing the right culture and did believe Ziyech fit the brief
From the start of the AFCON qualifiers, Morocco have scored 33 goals and conceded only once, against the Central African Republic.
‘The growth has been constant and it isn’t over yet,’ claimed Halilhodžić, who is eager to triumph in this AFCON after failures when at the helm of the best Ivory Coast ever in 2010 and Algeria back in 2013.
‘This Morocco team has a bright future, because it’s very young. It’s a bit inexperienced, but still has at least two to three cycles ahead of it.’
Halilhodžić is putting this puzzle together and has gone out to look for the pieces one by one in order to finish it.
Some of them were scattered throughout Europe and had already played for the youth national teams of the countries where they were born and raised.
He found many important pieces in the Premier League. He went personally to talk to Watford’s Adam Masina and convinced him to represent the country where he was born.
‘Adam is an extraordinary man and footballer,’ said Halilhodžić. ‘Even if he is still not in top form due to various injuries that have kept him away from the pitch for some time in the past, knowing his mentality and his character, I hope he can reach an even higher level.’
Watford defender Adam Masina (left) has been one of the biggest winners under Halilhodžić
Since Masina made his debut in March 2021, he has never left the starting line-up. His team-mate at Watford, Imran Louza, is also gaining more and more opportunities. Halilhodžić had brought him to the first team when he coached Nantes and then later last year integrated him into the national team.
‘Imran also had a bit of a hard time at his club and didn’t play much,’ Halilhodžić continued.
‘Recently, he also contracted Covid, but I expect him to be back in top form as soon as possible. I hope he can recover physically and contribute to the team’s effectiveness.’
The no-nonsense Bosnian coach has tried numerous players but in the last year the team seems to have reached a good level.
Morocco rose in the FIFA world rankings and now find themselves 23rd, which is their highest position since 1998 when they beat Scotland 3-0 in the World Cup group stage.
Morocco consequently climbed to the second position in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ranking. Only Senegal, who is currently struggling in Group B, is ahead of them.
In order to achieve these results, Halilhodžić had to manage two capricious talents.
One is Sofiane Boufal, who left very few fond memories during his time at Southampton, and things went well.
Unlike Ziyech, Sofiane Boufal (left) has shown a willingness to improve under Halilhodžić
Having failed to lift AFCON with Ivory Coast and Algeria, Halilhodžić now wants to win the title
‘I talked to him a lot,’ recalled the coach. ‘He is a dribbler, an individualist, a footballer in love with the ball, a romantic who likes to please the public with a nice move or a dribble.
‘So one day I said to him: “Listen, Sofiane, we need attackers with better offensive statistics, we need more goals and assists from you”.’
According to Halilhodžić, Boufal always tended to walk away from the goal and dribble 40 metres or so from it.
‘I told him that I don’t care about that and that I want him to dribble inside the penalty area to score goals.’ They also discussed some corrections to Boufal’s off-the-ball movement.
‘He started listening to me and obviously his performances improved a lot,’ continued Halilhodžić. ‘He is helping the team to be more effective.’
Then there was Ziyech, who didn’t listen to the Bosnian coach and is now out of the national team. Play by Halilhodžić’s rules or don’t play at all.
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