Moroccan center-back player Mehdi Benatia has been summoned by French coach Hervé Renard to join the national squad, playing against Cameroon on November the 16th, says BBC Sport. The decision is the first of its kind after the 2018 World Cup, added the same source. Renard, who currently manages the Morocco national football team, called 26 other footballers to be part of the Atlas Lions' squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The team will have to face Tunisia in a friendly, four days after its Cameroon game. Benatia did not participate to the first three games the national team played. The 31 year-old player preferred to «concentrate on his club commitments in Italy», added BBC referring to Juventus. Dutch-Moroccan player Oussama Idrissi is also one of the players to recently join the African squad. The latter was summoned by the French coach last week.
