Morocco ousts Roger Lemerre

2009-07-10

In the latest shake-up at the top of Moroccan national football, unpopular French trainer Roger Lemerre will leave the team following his "unsatisfactory performance".

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 10/07/09

[Siham Ali] Departing Morocco coach Roger Lemerre has been largely blamed for the national team's recent string of failures.

Roger Lemerre is officially no longer the head of the Moroccan national football team. Rumours abounded all week about the fate of the controversial French trainer, but the decision was finally announced Thursday (July 9th) after a meeting of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF). Representatives called Lemerre's termination "amicable", although he was scheduled to serve the team until 2012.

Federation spokesman Abdellah Ghellam merely confirmed the decision at the end of the meeting. He explained that an interim coach would lead the national team for the next three matches, pending selection of a new trainer. He refused to reveal the amount paid to the outgoing trainer to honour his contract, saying that it was confidential.

Lemerre, who took over the team from fellow Frenchman Henri Michel in July 2008, was dismissed for "unsatisfactory performance". According to the FRMF, Lemerre had not achieved goals set when he was appointed – referring chiefly to qualification for the 2010 World Cup and African Nations Cup.

Morocco is currently in a precarious situation in African qualifying group A for the 2010 World Cup and the 2010 African Nations Cup, behind Gabon, Togo, and Cameroon.

Lemerre has become so unpopular that the Federation's decision delighted followers of Moroccan football. Fans were disappointed by their team's poor performance in recent matches, with the qualifier against Gabon proving for many to be the last straw.

Some are calling for a root-and-branch review of the strategy for the sport, rather than just focussing on the coach. The FRMF has employed a strategy of desperation, employing a whopping eight trainers in the period 2001-2009: Mustapha Madih, Umberto Coelho, Badou Zaki, Philippe Troussier, Mohammed Fakhir, Henri Michel, Fathi Jamal, and Roger Lemerre.

Former Atlas Lions manager Abdelhak Louzani stressed that the appointment of a new coach will not go far enough, because "first you need a basic structure, direction and a clear vision if you are to achieve the development you want".

Louzani said the national side must be taken largely from clubs across the nation and strengthened by the best professionals, in contrast to what is happening at present.

The federation is considering several names to replace the outgoing coach, most significantly Philippe Troussier, Hassan Harmatallah, currently working in Qatar, or even former national technical director, Rachid Taoussi. The press has also advanced the name of Badou Zaki, who has tremendous appeal to fans.

As Moroccan coach from 2002 to 2005, Zaki saw the Atlas Lions through to the African Nations Cup final in 2004 in Tunisia, a feat that still inspires confidence in many fans.

Othmane Belkassi, a student, said that Zaki is the only man who could get the national side out of its crisis.

"Why waste millions of dirhams on foreign coaches who don't have patriotic blood coursing through their veins," he asked. "Right from the start, we need to give Zaki another chance, because at least he would have been able to get the Atlas Lions to the World Cup."

The government also showed a desire to support football in Morocco. On June 26th, King Mohammed VI appealed to three financial institutions – the Bank Al Maghrib, the Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion and the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP) – to grant annual aid of 75 million dirhams each to support the national football team.