Ziyech's fingers crossed: the death that marked his childhood, the decision that Van Basten called stupid and the surprise train to Qatar

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Life is about crossing your fingers.

Hakim Ziyech (Dronten, The Netherlands, 1993) crossed them after crossing the heart of Canada at the Al Thumama stadium, with his teammate Ounahi on his back.

He laid the cornerstone of Morocco's historic qualification for the round of 16, 36 years after that feat in Mexico'86.

Because in the life story of Hakim, the Dutchman who illuminates the Moroccan team in Qatar, there are always fingers crossed.

There were when he was 13 years old, at the foot of the hospital bed where his father was dying.

"That illness tore him apart. He couldn't walk, eat or talk. I had to go to bed that night, but I wanted to stay with him. I fell asleep on the edge of his bed, went outside for a moment, and when I came back, I heard my family crying. Not anymore I went back to school. Football didn't matter to me either. I left everything", he confessed in an interview in the Dutch newspaper 'De Volkskrant'.

That terrifying disease was multiple sclerosis.

The nightmare of a child who was slow to digest such a lurid drink.

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They crossed their fingers in his family because, logically, that drama marked Hakim and diverted him from the path he had with the ball.

Alcohol, tobacco and a thousand demons lurking in every dark alley.

Until Aziz showed up.

"Ziyech is my friend, my brother, and he has been like a little son to me. I have been with him since he was 13 years old and I have always tried to help him find the best path."

(1963) was the first Moroccan professional footballer in the Netherlands.

And, also, it has been that guardian angel that Hakim needed in that dramatic 2006. Aziz is still by his side and, from time to time, appears on the footballer's Instagram account.

Always crossing his fingers, like when

, his coach at Hereenveen, called him "stupid" for choosing to play with Morocco, the flag of his parents, instead of opting for the Netherlands, the land where he was born.

In 2018, Hakim played his first World Cup in Russia, while the

team watched the games on television.

"I just want to play. I don't speak the language, but I know where I come from," were his arguments for accepting the call in October 2015, after having climbed through the lower categories of the country where he was born.

Since then, he has played 46 games and scored 19 goals with the red jersey of the North African team.

Regragui's opportunity

Or, without looking back that far, crossing his fingers when he thought his story with Morocco was over.

Not once but twice.

First when

, today the coach of Saudi Arabia, and one of the faces (and bodies) in fashion in the first days of the championship, after giving the blow against Argentina in his debut, left him out of the 2017 African Cup. the second not even a year ago.

"I can't call a player like Ziyech, even if it's

.

He can ruin the atmosphere in the group », he explained in February, just nine months before the World Cup,

, the selector who closed the door in his face.

"For the first time in my career I have seen a player who does not want to train and says he is injured", were the reasons for the Bosnian coach, responsible for qualifying (without Ziyech) for the World Cup in Qatar, who would be dismissed on August 11 .

The silence of the soccer player in the national team lasted a year: from September 2021 to the same month of 2022.

Ziyech, stretched out on the pitch of Al Thumama.ANTONIN THUILLIERAFP

He thought that he would have to cross his fingers again with the arrival on the bench of

, the coach who is already a celebrity in his country.

But the first decision of the rocky right-back of Racing Santander (2004-07) was to call him for the first friendly, against Chile (2-0 victory).

Hakim has started in all six games of the Regragui era.

His numbers at Chelsea have not weighed at all, where he landed in 2020, after a transfer from Ajax for 40 million euros.

Neither

nor

, current coach of the blues, bet on him.

He adds 271 minutes (without goals or assists) in nine games with the London team.

He has added 256 in the three World Cup matches, with one goal, against Canada on Thursday, and that gift that his teammate

, also born in the Netherlands, gladly accepted against Belgium.

Life is about crossing your fingers.

Last night, Ziyech, who has it well in mind, laughed on the grass of the Duhail SC Stadium, fifteen minutes from the famous Pearl, where the Moroccan team has trained since its arrival in Qatar.

He daydreamed, thinking about the round of 16 match against Spain.

It would be the most important stride of the team he leads.

His parents' flag is also his.

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