Morocco star Aguerd pulls out of squad minutes before France kick-off

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Morocco defender Nayef Aguerd pulled out of his country’s World Cup semi-final clash against France moments before kick-off. The West Ham star was named in the starting XI but commentators only realised he wasn’t playing when the match began.

Aguerd was a major doubt for the match due to a thigh injury. Morocco fans would have been delighted to see both him and Romain Saiss in the line-up.

However, they weren’t able to see the Hammers’ summer signing in action. Aguerd was replaced in the starting XI by Achraf Dari but BBC commentator Steve Wilson didn’t know until the game got underway at Al Bayt Stadium.

Wilson said: “Aguerd is not out there. They were putting Saiss and Aguerd through their paces, both with thigh injuries, before the kick-off here.

“But we’ve got Achraf Dari, wearing No 20, on the right of the back three. So Aguerd has pulled out of this semi-final very late on.

“The team sheet we have in front of us has his name on it, the monitors we have has his name on it, but that man there is not Aguerd, it is Achraf Dari playing at the back for Morocco. So that change has obviously had to be made very, very late.

“He plays in France with Brest, who he joined in the summer. It is Aguerd, the West Ham defender, out of this semi-final very, very late on.”

Former England midfielder Danny Murphy was co-commentating alongside Wilson. And he outlined how much of a blow Aguerd’s absence would be for the African side.

Murphy said: “Yeah very late change wasn’t it. They’ve obviously given him every opportunity to make the first XI.

“Not felt up to it, made the change last minute. The system still stays the same but it is a blow for them because he’s been terrific.”

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It is not the first time Morocco have caused confusion with a late change before kick-off at the tournament. Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou lined up for the national anthems ahead of the group-stage match against Belgium.

However, that was the last fans saw of Bounou. The Sevilla stopper was swiftly replaced by Munir El Kajoui.

Things were made worse for Morocco when former Wolves star Saiss was forced off after France had opened the scoring. The 32-year-old skipper was clearly still struggling with the problem he took into the match.

Injuries have been a problem for Aguerd in recent months. He joined West Ham from Rennes in the summer for a fee of £30million.

However, he has made just one substitute appearance in the Premier League due to an ankle problem. His only start for the Irons came in the League Cup penalty shootout defeat to Blackburn.

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