Wahbi on El Mohamadi's Call-Up: "He is an Important Person On and Off the Pitch, and I Haven't Yet Determined the Goalkeeper Order"

Morocco national team coach Mohamed Wahbi discussed the reason behind calling up Renaissance Berkane goalkeeper Mounir El Mohamedi, indicating that he has not yet determined the goalkeeping order within the squad.

During the press conference where he announced the final squad for the World Cup, Wahbi stated: "Mounir is playing and performing well. He played today as well, had an opportunity to intervene, and made a good save. On the pitch, he has shown he is at the required level, and even off the pitch, he is a very important person. I have not yet decided the goalkeeping order, as that will depend on what we see daily in training."

He continued: "Regarding Gomis and Benchaoch, we called them up for this training camp because the goalkeepers we initially wanted to call up were committed to matches in the professional league, and it was not possible to call up league players for this gathering. This is why Lahrar and Mounir joined us after their respective matches. However, currently, there are goalkeepers ahead of Gomis and Benchaoch in the national team's pecking order."

Wahbi added: "These goalkeepers play regularly, which is why they are ahead of them, even though Gomis and Benchaoch possess talent. We also chose Mehdi Lahrar because he is a young goalkeeper, like Benchaoch and Gomis, who performs well and plays for his team, so he will be on the reserve list."

He concluded: "Even if Gomis or Benchaoch were called up with us, it wouldn't be for the role of second or third goalkeeper, but rather the fourth. We are fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, that the league is ongoing, because in the event of any emergency during the World Cup, we could have relied on a regularly playing league goalkeeper to be the third choice. As for Gomis and Benchaoch, their presence was solely for training purposes."