Morocco v Libya: Visitors return to action after cancellation

Libya will face Morocco on Sunday just four days after cancelling a friendly against Zimbabwe as unrest continues to blight the country.

Nasser Ahmed, a representative of the Libya Football Federation, notified Zimbabwe on Wednesday that his association would not be able to honour the upcoming international friendly due to the deteriorating situation in Libya.

“I take this opportunity to thank you for your usual co-operation with our federation but due to these exceptional circumstances we are experiencing here in Libya, the instability and the lack of flights in and out of the country, we regret to inform you that we will not be able to play a friendly match in September,” Ahmed said.

However, the Libya squad is understood to have made its way to Morocco in readiness to compete in Marrakech on Sunday.

Libya’s Spanish coach Javier Clemente will be hoping his charges can put the situation in their country behind them and produce a more convincing performance than they managed last time out.

Back in May they were roundly beaten 3-0 away from home against Rwanda in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match that saw home striker Dady Birori claim a hat-trick.

Morocco will be aiming to improve in front of goal after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Qatar on Wednesday at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca.

That was the third match in a row that Morocco have failed to score and coach Badou Zaki must be worried about where his team’s goals are going to come from.

The answer to Zaki’s problem may lie in German-born striker Karim Bellarabi whose excellent form in the Bundesliga for Leverkusen is starting to attract attention.

And the 25-year-old is eligible to play for Ghana, Morocco and Germany.

“I love Morocco as much as I love Germany. I count both as home. My father is German, my mother Moroccan,” Bellarabi told Bundesliga.com.

“It’s not something I’m thinking about yet, though. I’ll see what happens in the future, but at the moment my focus is wholly on Leverkusen and everything else will sort itself out.”

Bellarabi has scored in each of Leverkusen’s opening two Bundesliga games and also netted in their UEFA Champions League qualifying match at Copenhagen, helping them to qualify for the group stages.