Hassan Abourouaine is a Moroccan-American whose name is no
stranger to enthusiasts of Morocco’s
late 80s and the 90s soccer. His talent
and dribbling skills earned him a spot on Morocco‘s national cadet team before
junior team. His career spanned about 15
years that started at his home team Chabab Mohammedia before taking him to
Renaissance de Settat, Olympic Casablanca, where he collected lots of hardware,
a professional season with Ittifaq of Saudi Arabic, before closing out his
career at his original home team.
Abouroiaine joined the youth team of Chabab Mohammedia who
competed at Morocco
top division at the time, and slowly but surely made his way up to the first
team. His impact was immediate as
games become more exciting. He was
known for his fearlessness in taking in defenders one on one, leading to some
incredible show of soccer skill and craft.
Everyone noticed.
His days with Olympic de Casablanca were the highlight of
his career. He won and the Arab Cup
three times, the King’s Cup twice, in seasons 91-92, and 94-95. In the latter season he also won
the national championship once. In Arab
Cup tournament held in Qatar
in 1993, he was voted MVP of the tournament.
His performances at the Arab Cup tournaments landed him a
deal to play professionally in Saudia Arabia for the Ittifaq.
At the national team level where Morocco
competed out of zone Africa. He was called up for the country’s youth team
and played six games. He was a force to be reckoned with as he was marked as a
threat by opposing teams. African
soccer was quite physical and aggressive back then so much so that Abourouaine
and his teammates wore different numbers in their jerseys in different games. The goal was avoid being identified by
opposing players as they resulted to injuries top players to send them out the
game.
For about 15 years now, Hassan Abourouaine has been residing
in the city of Boston Massachusetts,
with his wife and two kids. He remains
as enthusiastic and passionate about the game as he has ever been, so much so
that his wife stated that “in our household, the TV screen wears green all
weekend long.”
|