Morocco’s Adel Taarabt may be dropped for poor attitude at the 2012 Afcon - report

Coach Eric Gerets is said to have lost his patience with the winger and his lack of professionalism, with the QPR player set for an exile from international football

16 Feb 2012 23:51:00

By Rami Ayari

More On :  Morocco, Erik Gerets, Adel Taarabt
Adel Taarabt, Morocco (PA)

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) group game against Gabon that ended in a 3-2 win for the co-hosts may prove to be Adel Taarabt’s final match in an Atlas Lions jersey, at least so long as Eric Gerets remains in charge of the Moroccan national team according to Lionsdelatlas.net.

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Taarabt is said to have completely lost focus in training after Morocco lost their second game and were effectively eliminated from the continental competition. Gerets was clearly unimpressed with the winger’s childish attitude and elected not to use him in the final group match, resulting in a narrow 1-0 victory over Niger for the north Africans.

It isn’t the first time that the QPR player has had a run in with his coach, the first coming when he elected to abandon the squad on the eve of a crucial 2012 Afcon qualifier against rivals Algeria after he learned that he wouldn’t be in the starting lineup. The Atlas Lions played their best game under Gerets won 4-0, with Taarabt’s replacement, Ousamma Assaidi, playing a starring role in the rout.

A final answer on Taarabt's fate will be delivered when Gerets announces his squad for the February 29 friendly match against Burkina Faso that Morocco have scheduled in order to gear up for 2013 Afcon qualifying.

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19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
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No, no, no. I'll have none of that Emile Heskey shouting anymore! Hello, it's me, it's me, it's that D-O-Y-L-E. Yes, I'm Joe Doyle, and I'll be here for all the reaction to that England game. First things first, how did everyone see that game? Good performance? A touch boring? Let me know on Twitter.
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