Morocco coach Walid Regragui has taken a major gamble by including unfit winger Sofiane Boufal in his Africa Cup of Nations squad after candidly admitting the Angers star lacks match sharpness.
Boufal was a surprise beneficiary when Regragui named his 27-man selection on Thursday for next month’s continental showpiece in Ivory Coast.
The 30-year-old, who moved to Qatar’s Al Rayyan SC last summer, had not featured at all since late August amid injury issues.
Incredibly, he only made his return earlier on Thursday, playing 67 minutes of Al Rayyan’s 2-1 Emir Cup quarter-final loss hours before Regragui’s squad announcement.
And the Atlas Lions boss confessed it represented a major risk to select a player lacking fitness and form.
“I told him the truth, that he hasn’t played for a long time. But the rules of CAF (African Football Confederation) allow me to take him in the squad,” Regragui told a press conference.
“He’s an important player for the national team. I discussed it with my staff and we decided to select him.”
Regragui will hope Boufal can quickly regain peak condition with Morocco fine-tuning their preparations for a Group D campaign that kicks off against Tanzania on January 17th.
However, should the talented wideman struggle to rebuild sharpness, the manager knows he can still call on in-form talents like Hakim Ziyech, Sofiane Rahimi and Anass Zaroury to fulfil attacking roles instead.
Boufal titulaire !
15h30 : Al Rayyan vs Qatar SC
Dans la liste des 27 pour la CAN, Sofiane Boufal fera ses débuts en tant que titulaire après 4 mois sans jouer le moindre match. pic.twitter.com/djjyOYiSUM
— 𝕆𝕦𝕤𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕕 𝔸𝕝 𝔸𝕥𝕝as (@OussoudAl) December 28, 2023
