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11 February 2022
Jeremiah Harrison
Sports Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Chelsea and Morocco attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech announced his retirement from international duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a result of sour relations between the player and the country’s national team coach, Vahid Halilhodzic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vahid Halilhodzic left out Ziyech from the just ended 2021 AFCON squad which played in Cameroon. The coach accused him of feigning injury to avoid playing for Morocco in mid-year friendlies last June but the player denies the accusation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tournament was eventually won by Senegal affter beating Egypt on penalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reports coming from Morocco say that Halilhodzic was going to leave Ziyech from the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers play offs set for next month against the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the AFCON finals Halilhodzic had told the media that he was not happy with Ziyech’s behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Halilhodzic said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe players I have selected are the best in the country,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t select a player who can unbalance the group. Not even if his name is Lionel Messi. Ziyech\u2019s behaviour does not fit the selection.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe doesn\u2019t want to train, doesn\u2019t want to play. He doesn\u2019t take it seriously. I\u2019m not going to beg him to come back,” he added<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chelsea attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech missed out on the chance to represent Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations throughout January, despite being arguably the national team’s best player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morocco were knocked out of the competition in the quarter-final by Mohamed Salah’s Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday Hakim Ziyech told ESPN that he has no plans to return to Morocco national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I will not return to the national team. That is my final decision,” Ziyech told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I am focusing on what I am doing with my club. It was a decision he (Halilhodzic) made and you have to respect it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “But then if all the lying comes with it, for me it is clear and I will not return to the national team.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ziyech was born in the Netherlands and was a junior international player for that country, but switched allegiances to Morocco in 2015. He won 40 caps, scoring 17 goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ziyech is known for his finishing, dribbling, long passes, technique, and ability from free kicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, he was selected as one of the 20 best players in the UEFA Champions League for the 2018\u201319 season. At the end of the same year, he was ranked 29th in The Guardian’s list of “The 100 best footballers in the world”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2016 he signed for Ajax on a five-year deal, with a reported transfer fee of \u20ac11m from a Dutch club Twente. The 2018\u201319 season was the most prolific season in Ziyech’s career, as he scored 16 goals and provided 13 assists in the Eredivisie. He joined Premier League club Chelsea for the 2020\u201321 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The player-coach relationship is important in sport. Last month Ziyech’s teammate Romelu Lukaku faced problems with his manager Thomas Tuchel. Lukaku had a private interview with the media at his home and he told the reporters that he was not happy with the role he was playing under Tuchel. Lukaku apologized and Chelsea made him pay fine and matters were settled, now the player is enjoying football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Late last year the then Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang saw himself being stripped off his captaincy by the club coach Mikel Arteta after their relationship became sour and Aubemayang lost his place in the team, this resulted in him finding a new home at Camp Nou to join Barcelona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zim GBC News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 11 February 2022 Jeremiah HarrisonSports Reporter Chelsea and Morocco attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech announced his retirement from international duty. 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