FIFA re-published the story of Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, via Twitter, ahead of the national team’s match with Spain, on Tuesday.
FIFA had praised the goalkeeper by preparing a short video about his football career, in the category of inspirational stories.
Yacine Bounou has one of the most inspiring stories in football ????????????
He left everything and started from scratch in search of the bigger dream ????????
And today he is the protector of the den of the Atlas Lions in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 ????????
– FIFA World Cup ???? (@fifaworldcup_ar) December 5, 2022
“FIFA” narrated the story of Bono, from the CAF Champions League final with Wydad, through to the third division in Spain with the second team of Atletico Madrid, and up to the award for best goalkeeper in the Spanish League.
And “FIFA” considered that “Bono has one of the most inspiring stories in football.”
And he continued in a tweet on Twitter: “Bono left everything and started from scratch in search of the biggest dream.. Today he is the protector of the Atlas Lions’ den in the World Cup in Qatar.”
In the video, Al-Ittihad said, “Not a single Moroccan would have imagined that the boy who left the Wydad team in 2012 after reaching the CAF Champions League final would one day be the goalkeeper who would be crowned with the Zamora Award as the best goalkeeper in the Spanish League less than a decade later.”
Al-Ittihad narrated that Bono’s story is old, starting from Canada, where his family immigrated there, and Yassin was born in Montreal to obtain Canadian citizenship, but the family returned to Morocco, and his football journey began in Casablanca.
Bono’s journey in the world of football began with the Wydad team in 1999, and he participated in the CAF Champions League final with them in 2011, and began playing regularly with the team, and he played his first match with the Moroccan national team as a goalkeeper in 2013 against Burkina Faso, to start his journey in guarding the national team’s goal. during the coming years.”
Later, the Wydad fans learned that the protector of the den had moved again, this time to Spain, and joined the second team in Atletico Madrid, which plays in the third division of the Spanish League, and then moved to Zaragoza in the second division, where he showed himself distinguishedly, before moving from him. To Girona, who gave him first-class play against Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and the biggest stars in the world.
Bono developed while he was in La Liga, but his career suffered a shock when Girona fell to the second division at the end of the 2018/2019 season, which resulted in another transfer the following summer after relegation, and he joined Seville, where he spent the season sitting on the bench, but he reaped the fruits of his patience when he was exposed. Sevilla’s starting goalkeeper Tomas Vaclic was injured late in the season.
Bono took advantage of his opportunity, and his distinguished level played a major role in Seville winning the European League title. Bono became Sevilla’s main goalkeeper, and one of the most prominent goalkeepers in Europe, and became the first Arab goalkeeper to win the prestigious Zamora Award, at the end of the 2021/22 season.
FIFA said that Bono is now facing the biggest test by protecting the goal of the Atlas Lions in the World Cup in Qatar, and the Moroccan people are pinning their hopes on him to repeat the 1986 experience, qualify for the second round, and the elimination stages.
It is noteworthy that Bono had withdrawn at the last moment before the start of the confrontation in which his country beat Belgium 2-0, at Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha, in the second round of Group F competitions for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, due to stomach pain.
Bono was in the starting line-up for the match and went through the warm-up period and stood with his teammates during the playing of the national anthem, but he felt dizzy afterwards, so his coach Walid Al-Rakraki decided not to risk his participation and put the Saudi goalkeeper Munir Al-Qajwi Al-Mohammadi in his place.
In response to a question by Agence France-Presse about what happened to Bono after the warm-up period and the national anthem, Regragui said in a press conference: “Yassin Bono was injured against Croatia and we tried to prepare him at the right time, but during the warm-up period he felt pain in his stomach, which caused him dizziness and asked to be replaced.” .
In a separate context, while the Moroccan national football team seeks to write a new history in its sixth participation in the World Cup finals, when it meets neighboring Spain, the 2010 champion, on Tuesday at the Education City Stadium in Doha in the final price, a new situation has occurred in the health of one of the main players in the Moroccan national team. .
Al-Kass Channels, a group of Qatari sports channels, said that Moroccan player Sofiane Amrabat was suffering from some back pain and that he was taken to the hospital for examinations.
Moroccan national football coach Walid Rekragui says Amrabat is “the most important player in his team, because of his tactical advantages and his intelligence.”