There are fewer and fewer dribblers left. They are like the Iberian lynx, specimens to be saved from extinction. Abdessamad Ezzaizouli, known in football as Ez Abde (Beni Mellal, Morocco, 20 years old), belongs to that line of players. He receives the ball and challenges the marker. He is guided by his instinct. In an increasingly robotized game, Abde dribbles over and over again. On the left or on the right, based on tricks and a football more attached to the street than obedient to algorithms.
Morocco debuts today against Croatia (11am) stealthily. The African and Asian teams are not taken seriously until they bite like Saudi Arabia did yesterday with Argentina. Morocco's squad draws attention. There we find Bono in goal and talents like the winger Achraf, or the more offensive profiles of Ziyech and En-Nesry. Abde will have to wait for his turn. Today he is a substitute. "If he comes out to play he is not going to cut himself, he will do what he always does, face up," say sources close to the footballer.
Abde chose Morocco and Morocco chose Abde. It was a reciprocal desire. Born in Beni Mellal, an area located between the Middle Atlas and the Tadla plain, in the heart of the country, the winger takes great care of his roots despite physically abandoning them at the age of seven. His family (his parents and his two older brothers, his nucleus today and always) left home looking for a better luck and ended up in Elx, specifically in Carrús, a neighborhood with an unofficial motto that inspires Dickensian dramas: the poorest from Spain.
The Abde of street football grew up in its streets, in the Antipodes of the normative growth followed by the kids from La Masia, with whom he would end up starring in a late merger, already in the Barcelona subsidiary.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The dribbling led the Moroccan striker to play first in regional fields, where personalities are forged and the smart ones survive. He did it so well that he caught the attention of Elche and then Hércules, a historic club in decline, playing first in its youth teams and very soon in the first team. The most vertiginous jump was still missing. Barça's scouts sniffed around the area and detected one of those natural talents that they want to sign to later undertake a definitive polishing. The Blaugrana club paid two million euros for its clause on the last day of the market.
Abde, free verse in the midst of method players, shone enough to make his debut in the Barça first team at the hands of Sergi Barjuan, who knew his gift up close because he was precisely his coach at Barça B. He landed in the heights when the blaugrana first team was made of foxes. And he didn't do bad. He couldn't bear the stress or the weight of the shirt. He was brave and cheeky, as always.
Today Xavi Hernández closely follows his evolution at Osasuna, a club where he is on loan for one season after signing a new contract until 2026. In Pamplona they are delighted. He was going like a rocket until he suffered an injury that almost cost him the World Cup.
And next season? Xavi Hernández expects the best from him. The key will be in Abde learning aspects of the game that are also important beyond dribbling. More or less the same thing happened to Gerard Deulofeu with his age. He thought that being a virtuous extreme would suffice. Today, already in full maturity, that player recognizes that he lacked something.
Abde is on time for everything. Today, at the age of 20, he starts a World Cup. If they give him minutes, he will play with the nerve of the street.
