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Brahim Diaz, an 18-year-old Spanish footballer of Moroccan descents who plays as an attacking midfielder for Manchester City, has refused to join the Morocco national football to represent the kingdom at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, reports Goal.com.
Herve Renard, who currently manages the Moroccan team, has tried to convince the Malaga-born footballer of playing alongside the Atlas Lions at the international competition, meeting with his representatives in the last weeks. Unfortunately, Renard failed to persuade Diaz who, according to the same source, considers himself as a Spanish player.
For the record, Diaz was born in Malaga to a mother from the same city and a father from Melilla. He has already represented Spain as a junior player and is aiming to «break into the senior side», sources close to Brahim told the Goal.
Morocco has tried before to get Munir Haddadi, a Spanish young player of Moroccan descent, to the team. However, the young man has already played for the Spanish team which stops him from changing allegiances.
The official draw was revealed on the 1st of December at the Kremlin in Moscow. Morocco had been drawn alongside Portugal, Spain and Iran.
The Lions of the Atlas will start the competition against Iran on the 15th of June 2018 at 4 p.m. (Morocco time) in St Petersburg before a second match on the 20th of June at 1 p.m. against Portugal in Moscow. For the last match, Morocco will be playing against Spain at 7 p.m. in Kaliningrad.
