• Zakaria Aboukhlal is one of 14 players who were born abroad.
• He was born in Netherlands and played for AZ Alkmaar.
• He has made four appearances during this World Cup.

Zakaria Aboukhal, a striker for Morocco, says he is excited to face Croatia on Saturday as the Atlas Lions try to finish third at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

One of the 14 players in Morocco’s 26-man World Cup squad who were born abroad but have opted to represent their parents’ nation is the 22-year-old Aboukhlal.

Before deciding to play for Morocco in November 2020, Aboukhlal represented the Netherlands in the U17, U18, U19, and U20 levels. He was born in the Netherlands.

He has made four appearances during this World Cup, scoring in the 2-0 victory against Belgium. He is expected to start against Croatia.

The striker, who joined Toulouse from AZ Alkmaar in the summer, claimed the World Cup experience had been “wonderful” in a press conference prior to Saturday’s game.

I am 22 years old, so to play in a World Cup and score, like I stated, was my biggest ambition, he said. “It is a dream for me to play in a World Cup,” he added.

The third-place playoff is often viewed as a needless burden for teams who would much rather return home after coming so close to winning the World Cup but failing to do so, but Aboukhlal doesn’t share this opinion.

Nobody expected us to be competing for third place, but he argued that it was like a dream come true.

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