RABAT, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Morocco coach Eric Gerets has dropped Adel Taarabt of Queens Park Rangers and Heerenveen’s Oussama Assaidi for next week’s friendly against Burkina Faso in Marrakesh.
The Morocco Football Federation said on Tuesday that Abdelaziz Barrada of Getafe and PSV Eindhoven’s Zakaria Labyad had been called up for the first time for the Feb. 29 fixture.
Gerets’s team were among the pre-tournament favourites for the 2012 African Nations Cup but were eliminated from the competition early.
Morocco have also dropped French-based midfielder Youssouf Hadji, a long-standing member of the squad, and defender Ahmed Kantari, who was widely criticised for his displays at the Nations Cup, for the Burkina Faso game.
Gerets is using the friendly to prepare for forthcoming World Cup qualifiers including a tough match against Ivory Coast in June.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town, editing by Tony Jimenez)
