Adam Aznou would experience a bitter disappointment in October 2023.
Rising through Bayern Munich’s academy, being a key player at U-19 level and being billed as a phenomenal talent was not enough for Morocco’s U-17 head coach, Said Chiba, to nominate the youngster for November 2023’s U-17 World Cup. Aznou would have undoubtedly been frustrated to have missed out on a such a big event.
But 11 months later, things have turned around drastically. It was a shock to see Aznou’s name on the list for the Morocco senior national team, but that shock paled in comparison to the reveal that Aznou would start Morocco’s crucial Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Lesotho. It is worth keeping in mind that, at the time of writing, Lesotho rank 149th in FIFA’s Men’s World Ranking and Morocco did leave heavy hitters such as Brahim Díaz, Hakim Ziyech and Noussair Mazraoui on the bench, so Morocco likely expected little fight from their opponents and to collect a comfortable victory.
But a fight it was for Aznou and Morocco, as a tough stalemate forced many of the heavy hitters to come off the bench, with only Díaz’ 93rd minute winner able to rescue all three points for the 2022 World Cup semifinalists. But though Real Madrid player Díaz got the late glory, Morocco would also have to thank former FC Barcelona youngster Aznou for his glorious performance en route to the victory. @iMiaSanMia captured his Sofascore stats:
Adam Aznou: Man of the match in his Morocco debut
90 minutes played
92 touches
47 accurate passes (92%)
21/27 duels won
6/8 dribbles completed
6/6 long balls
3 tackles
1 interception
8.7/10 rating
21 duels won stands out as an incredibly impressive stat for the rather slight left-back, but the rest of the stats paint a very impressive picture as well. What a turnaround this is for young Aznou’s Moroccan career, going from snubbed from the U-17 World Cup to starting and starring for Morocco in a crucial qualifying match. If it was Aznou’s goal to make sure he would not be snubbed for any major competitions again, he could not have done a better job of making his point with this performance. May his future with the national team (and Bayern) be bright.
In case you missed it, France Football left Jamal Musiala out of their Ballon d’Or top 30, which has sparked anger among the Bayern Munich fanbase and executives alike. If you want to know why it’s such a big deal, we covered it in our newest podcast episode, alongside a discussion about Florian Wirtz vs Paul Wanner and whom Bayern Munich should get first. Listen to it below or on Spotify.
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