Frenchman Roger Lemerre appointed to lead Moroccan squad

RABAT, May 13 (Xinhua) -- After four months of negotiations on who should lead the Atlas Lions, Morocco finally appointed Frenchman Roger Lemerre in the post to succeed his countryman Henri Michel, official MAP news reported on Tuesday.

"The decision was taken after careful consideration and meticulous thinking on the service offers received, and while taking into consideration the experiences lived recently," the report said quoting a press release of the Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF).

All the conditions are now met for Mr. Lemerre to takes up the responsibility of the national teams, starting from July 1, 2008, FRMF said.

The naming of Lemerre comes three weekends before the opening group qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa. The Atlas Lions will receive Ethiopia in Casablanca on May31.

Lemerre, 66, is succeeding his countryman Michel who was sacked in January after the poor performance of the Moroccan soccer squad in the African Cup finals in Ghana.

The Moroccans had to exit the tournament in the first round, and Michel then scathingly criticized the sports policy in the north African kingdom, which cost him his post as national coach.

The FRMF had previously called off two press conferences planned to announce the leader of the Moroccan team.

It had, in March, short-listed six local coaches, with Badou Zaki a former coach of the national team as a favorite, but the choice suddenly changed course towards a foreign team manager, saying local coaches still need training.