Saturday 24 September 2011

Morocco call up Taarabt for preliminary squad


QPR and Morocco's Adel Taarabt

Morocco coach Eric Gerets has named controversial midfielder Adel Taarabt in his preliminary squad for their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania.
Taarabt walked out on the Atlas Lions squad in June ahead of their qualifier against Algeria.
It is not clear whether the QPR star will honour the call up for the game in Marrakech on 9 October.
Taarabt was a key factor in QPR's promotion to the Premier League, being named the Championship player of the year.
He has had problems with the Moroccan team before, reacting badly when forced to start last October's 2012 Nations Cup qualifier against Tanzania on the bench.
Having played for France at youth level, Taarabt made his debut for the land of his birth in 2009.
Morocco were already without freescoring Ajax Amsterdam striker Mounir al-Hamdoui for the spicy Algeria clash, with the Atlas Lions keen to avenge their 1-0 defeat in Annaba in March.
Morocco are top of Group D with eight points and an emphatic victory over Tanzania will seal their place at next year's tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Morocco Preliminary squad:
Ismail Aissati (Ajax, Netherlands), Ahmed Ajedou (Wydad Casablanca), Jamal Alioui (Al Kharityath, Qatar), Nordin Amrabat (Kayserispor. Turkey), Ossama Assaidi (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Aissam Badda (FUS Rabat), Micahael Basser (Buraspor, Turkey), Younes Belhanda (Montpellier, France), Mohamed Berrabeh (Wydad Casablanca), Mbark Boussoufa (Anzhi Makhachkala, Russia), Rachid Bourabia (Mons, Belgium), Kamal Chafni (Auxerre, France), Marouane Chamakh (Arsenal, England) Mohammed Chihani (Al Arabi, Qatar), Adil Chihi (Cologne, Germany), Nabil Dirar (Club Brugge, Belgium), Larim El Ahmadi Aroussi (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Youssef El Arabi (Al Hilal, Saudi Arabia), Mounir El Hamdaoui (Ajax, Netherlands), Mostapha El Kabir (Cagliari, Italy), Badr El Kaddouri (Celtic, Scotland), Abdelhamid El Kaoutari (Montpellier, France) Ayoub El Khaliqi (Wydad Casablanca), Mehdi El Moutaqui (Udinese, Italy) Youssouf Hadji (Rennes, France), Houssine Kharja (Fiorentina, Italy), Oussama Laghrib (FUS Rabat), Nadir Lamyaghri (Wydad Casablanca), Ahmed Mohamadina (Olympic Khouribga), Mustapha Mrani (MAS), Youssef Rabeh (Wydad Casablanca), Fatah Said (Wydad Casablanca), Rachid Soulaimani (Raja Casablanca), Adel Taarabt (QPR, England)