World 2022, rumors of departure, Lekjaa and Ziyech … Halilhodzic settles his accounts

Vahid Halilhodzic had a lot to say regarding the many rumors he has been the subject of in recent weeks. In an interview with Sportske Novosti, the Atlas Lions coach returned to his qualification for the 2022 World Cup, speculation about his departure, the words of Fouzi Lekjaâ and the thorny file of Hakim Ziyech.

Vahid Halilhodzic speaks in turn and wants to dot the i’s and cross the T’s. The Bosnian technician also mentioned the meeting that will take place with Fouzi Lekjaâ concerning his future, which has been questioned for several weeks.

“Do you know where I come from? From Jablanica! And it is best known for granite! So I was built in Jablanica granite. What should I talk about? About qualifying for the World Cup and winning, right? I speak on the field. My results speak for me. I have nothing else to say. I only know one thing: I always win! I would have to start losing games to be rightly criticized,” he launched.

Forced to put the subject back on the table, Vahid insisted that he did not want to talk about Hakim Ziyech as the FRMF tries everything to reconcile the two parties. The former Nantes sign and persists, he wants above all to focus on his current group on the sidelines of the 2022 World Cup which will take place in Qatar.

“I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. I devoted myself to my team, my group, I got a place in Qatar. All the rest are just stories imposed by someone. These are counter rumours… We have to talk about our results, about the young players who managed to qualify for Qatar. With seven wins and a draw, 25 goals scored and 3 goals conceded. Everything else is sensationalism”he points out.

Speaking of the World Cup, the former coach of the Fennecs intends to prepare his team well, in particular by playing friendly matches.

“You have to prepare well to be successful. As Croatia and others will prepare, so will we. We will try to make a surprise! We will have qualifying matches for CAN 2023 in June and October. We will also try to play one or two friendlies if we find suitable opponents.”he believes.

“My handicap is that I have a young, inexperienced team. 90% of them will participate for the first time in such a big competition, even if they were present during the CAN. But the World Cup is something else. It is a much higher level. We will have to prepare very well”adds the Bosnian.

As a reminder, Morocco is housed in group F with Belgium, Croatia and Canada. He will face in his first match Croatia, vice-world champion in title (Russia-2018), before playing against Belgium then Canada, during the Football World Cup organized in Qatar from November 21 to December 18. 2022.