Ziyech, the indomitable lefty who leads the Atlas Lions

Straight

There are players who contain both the soul of a violinist with a heightened artistic sense and an indomitable character that dominates their career.

In the case of Hakim Ziyech, one part cannot be explained without the other.

The Regragui coach celebrates his brilliant contribution to Morocco's great moment: “It's incredible.

Many people say that Hakim is a difficult boy to handle, but what I see is that if you give him love and trust, he dies for you.

A flag goal, punishing Canada's Borjan's mistake with a subtle touch over the keeper, and some dazzling individual play topped off with a precise assist to Aboukhlal against Belgium are just the tip of the iceberg.

Ziyech's creative ingenuity and fabulous left foot symbolize the touch of class in the North African team.

Before the termination of Halilhodzic's contract in August, the previous coach, the popular outcry against the coach, faced with a true national idol, was barely concealed.

“I can't summon Ziyech even if it was Messi.

He was not disciplined in the last games and he refrained from training.

I will not tolerate such behavior.

I already forgave him twice.

There is no third,” he said in February.

There is a lot of fog about the origin of the conflict.

Ziyech had already had friction that was resolved with another coach, Hervé Renard.

Ziyech had made public his resignation from the national team, in which he had not played since the 2021 African Cup. But the Moroccan Federation ended up giving in to pressure from the fans, who demanded the return of the magician and other banned players such as Mazraoui.

Ziyech reappeared in the friendlies in September, and three days before the start of the World Cup he honed his left foot with a great goal against Georgia from his field.

Born in Dronden, 80 kilometers from Amsterdam, Ziyech is the son of a couple of immigrant Berbers from the Rif.

His father died of sclerosis when Ziyech was 10, and his mother worked hard cleaning floors to support nine children.

Ziyech was the youngest, and his game inhabits that unique street air that he forged in the suburbs of Dronden.

“There are things that happened when he was little, playing in the street, that make you tougher as a person.

I was up against older guys who never backed down.

Even when you showed them that you played better, they kept hitting you.

That helps you grow,” he says.

Recruited by the Herenveen academy, he made his debut with the first team at the age of 19, in 2012. His coach was none other than Marco Van Basten, who led him for two seasons.

In the first one, with almost no minutes, Ziyech was already complaining that his evolution would have been faster if Van Basten had handled it differently.

The former Dutch international would describe Ziyech's decision in 2015 to join the Moroccan national team as a "stupid act" when he could have done so in the Netherlands.

“I just want to play.

I don't speak the language, but I know where I come from,” he said.

He had worn the orange jersey in lower categories and had even been called up once with the senior team with Guus Hiddink in charge, but he did not make his debut due to injury, and then Danny Blind did not call him again.

He accepted the proposal of the Moroccan coach,

Mallorca exporter Ezaki Badou when he had already become one of the best youngsters in the Eredivisie, after being transferred to Twente and then Ajax.

In four courses in Amsterdam he signed 49 goals and 62 assists.

In the 2018/2019 campaign, with his beloved Schreuder as Erik Ten Hag's assistant, a festive Ajax full of young talent reached the Champions League semi-finals before the team began to fall apart due to sales.

Ajax was the leader in March 2020, when the Eredivisie was definitively suspended due to the covid pandemic.

Ziyech was infected and confined at home while his transfer to Chelsea for 40 million was forged.

Ten Hag warned Frank Lampard of the player the Londoners had bought: “Sometimes he can become a nightmare for a coach, but you have to give him space.

With Hakim it is like that.

What you see is what you get and you know how it feels every day.

He can be stubborn, but that makes him brilliant."

With Lampard he was always a starter.

But the coach was short-lived and the arrival on the bench of Thomas Tuchel relegated Ziyech in the hierarchy of a large and very expensive list of attackers.

Now in his third term at Stamford Bridge he barely plays with Graham Potter.

His return with Morocco has once again unleashed that creative nerve lined by a physique designed for acceleration and deception, and which leads to the refinement of his left foot, a brush that traces poisonous shots or minimalist assists alike.

A catalog of luxuries that have unleashed nostalgia in the country of his birth: “The most attractive thing about his football is his courage.

He doesn't mind losing a ball, because a minute later another more complicated one is played.

That speaks of his mental strength.

It's a shame he doesn't play for the Oranje.

We don't have a player like that”, stated Rafael Van der Vaart.

And a Van Basten without rancor regrets his ostracism at Chelsea: “We watch television and go to stadiums to see players like this.

He should be on another team, entertaining people."

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