Achraf Hakimi and Hakim Ziyech are the biggest global stars, Sofyan Amrabat is there to give the team strength, the Arabs also swear by Abderrazak Hamdallah, but if you ask Luis Enrique – that boy with the “eight” on his back made the difference in the Moroccans’ victory over Spain. ‘Red Fury’s’ coach did not hide his enthusiasm, even though journalists peppered him with questions about the Spanish fiasco.🎙 Luis Enrique: “I was pleasantly surprised by Azzedine Ounahi’s performance. My God, where did this boy come from?” #MAR | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/Z0RDVHbETt— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) December 7, 2022 He meant, of course Azzedine Ounahi, a guy born in Casablanca 22 years ago. It could not even be overlooked. The Angers midfielder was on the move all the time and ran 14.71 kilometers, the most in the match. He also won nine balls, won seven duels… He was everywhere.”I was pleasantly surprised by the number ‘8’, I can’t remember the name, I’m sorry… Where did that boy come from? He plays very well. Achraf and Ziyech are obvious, we know En-Nesyri well, we know Amrabat as well…. But this boy hasn’t stopped running. We’ve talked about it in the staff” said Enrique after the game.The Moroccan ‘beast’ that ‘ate up’ Modric, De Bruyne, Pedri, Gavi…Although, Enrique is right when he asks where Ounahi came from, because he himself said it just recently…”What happened to me is unbelievable. Last year I played in the French third division. I couldn’t even imagine that I would play in the World Cup”.Hakimi: With Morocco I feel like I matter, in PSG I often just run and don’t get the ballOunahi’s rise was truly meteoric. Until 2017, he played for the Muhammad VI football academy. He was noticed by Strasbourg scouts and taken to France, but not everything there was smooth sailing. In Strasbourg, he could not make it to the first team, so in 2020 he went to the third league team US Avranches. And there he struggled at first. With injuries. His frail frame struggled with the physical style of football in France.”Every game I would get hit either in the ankle or the knee” he complained at the time.Bounou’s penalty heroics send Morocco into quarterfinals and Spain crashing out of World CupNot that he knew what awaited him. And when he went to Raji as a 10-year-old, he was just hinting at his talent, it was known that physics was not his strong point, so they pushed him into the older selections to toughen up. Then, at the age of 15, he was taken away by the Muhammad VI Academy, but Ounahi still had all the freedom to develop his sense of the game.”Back in my area, everyone was taller than me, so I had to be technically better than them. I avoided duels, because everyone was stronger than me. I try to play quickly: touch and go from there, avoid crowds… The intelligence of the game is in the look, the movement” he told West-France.Azzedine Ounahi vs. Spain pic.twitter.com/iY5WtCd5nA— Wydad Comps (@WydadComps) December 7, 2022 He was also trying to pick up some trick of the trade, and he chose a good role models, while keeping his fitness level high.”I watched Andres Iniesta play carefully. Of course, we are not at the same level, but I try to do what he does: to play simply and efficiently and not to lose balls. I usually run about 12 or 13 kilometers per game. Against Marseille, I might have spent a little bit,” he laughed after the game in which he ran 13.95 kilometers, which was a record in the last Ligue 1 season.##NAJAVA_MECA_6870963##Against Spain he kept running and now everyone knows who the skinny boy from Casablanca is.”An exceptional player, but he can be even better. If he continues like this, he will be the discovery of this World Cup” said Morocco coach Walid Regragui.
