Belhanda and Taarabt omitted

Younes Belhanda: The Montpellier star has been left out of Morocco's Olympic squad through injury

Younes Belhanda and Adel Taarabt were the high-profile absentees when Morocco named their 18-man squad for the London Olympics.

Belhanda played a pivotal role as Montpellier won their first French league title in May but the 22-year-old will miss the tournament due to an ankle injury.

Taarabt has also been left out of the squad for an Olympics hosted in the city where he plays his club football for Queens Park Rangers.

Morocco coach Pim Verbeek has named Fiorentina's Houcine Kharjah and forward Nordine Amrabat as the over-age players in the squad. Verbeek chose not to use his full allocation of three players over the age of 23.

The squad will be based in the coach's native Netherlands from next week in preparation for the tournament later this month.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Mohamed Amsif (FC Augsburg), Yassine Bounou (Atletico Madrid)

Defenders: Mohamed Aberhoune (MA Tetouan), Zakarya Bergdich (Racing Lens), Abdelhamid El Kaoutari (Montpellier), Zouhair Feddal (Espanyol), Yacine Jebbour (Rennes), Abdelatif Noussair (FUS Rabat)

Midfielders: Abdelaziz Barrada (Getafe), Omar El Kaddouri (Brescia), Driss Fettouhi (Istres), Rayane Frikech (Angers), Houcine Kharja (Fiorentina), Imad Najah (PSV Eindhoven)

Forwards: Nordine Amrabat (Kayerispor), Soufiane Bidaoui (Lierse), Soufian El Hassnaoui (De Graafschap), Zakarya Labyad (Sporting Lisbon)