That will be Lemerre's first task, with Morocco playing Ethiopia away and then Mauritania at home.
Nevertheless, Lemerre feels he has a more than adequate replacement in the shape of Pires.
Lemerre has already been deprived of Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires, who injured his knee in March.
French manager Roger Lemerre will announce a new Euro 2000 squad at the weekend.
The stand in coach who took charge of those four games, Fathi Jamal, has been named Lemerre's assistant.
Lemerre signed a lucrative two-year contract with the north Africa country, and thinks he has the key to success.
Barthez has publicly backed Nantes keeper Mickael Landreau to win the third goalkeeping spot in Roger Lemerre's 23-man squad.
Coach Roger Lemerre said he did not want to take any risks with key players before Euro 2000 this summer.
Santos' naturalisation should be a major boost to Lemerre, since the former manager of France is seeking to reinforce his side.
BBC: SPORT | Football | African | Tunisia naturalise Brazilian
Lemerre's first 2010 qualifier is at the beginning of September when he takes his side to Addis Ababa to play Ethiopia.
While Lemerre has held the door open for Anelka and Djorkaeff, he appears to have closed it on Newcastle's Laurent Robert.
Their poor displays in the Far East saw the French replace Lemerre with Santini and Les Bleus have never looked back.
BBC: SPORT | Football | Euro 2004 | France | Marlet praises Santini work
Lemerre leaves a year into his four-year contract after a resolution of pay-off terms was reached with the Morocco Football Federation.
The former France coach, Lemerre, replaces his compatriot Henri Michel, who was sacked after the Nations Cup in Ghana earlier this year.
Lemerre was hoping that players from Arsenal and Chelsea will be injury free following the Uefa Cup and FA Cup finals respectively.
To highlight his point, Lemerre's team struggled to victory in Zidane's absence.
Lemerre has had more success in continental competition, winning the European championship in 2000, and the Africa Nations Cup for Tunisia in 2004.
Morocco striker Abdessalam Benjelloun, who plays for Scottish Premier League side Hibernian, believes that Lemerre has a lot to offer the Atlas Lions.
France's defence of their World Cup crown in 2002 ended in disaster as Roger Lemerre's side failed to qualify from the group stages.
BBC: SPORT | Football | Euro 2004 | France | Marlet praises Santini work
Perhaps that is why Lemerre is so keen to stress youth development - he simply doesn't have world beaters at his disposal right now.
On the other hand Lemerre takes over a Moroccan side that is top of Group 8 - albeit on goal difference ahead of Rwanda.
As media speculation regarding the state of Henry's right knee increased, Lemerre earlier admitted he may have to call up Nicolas Anelka as a replacement.
Lemerre has called Fulham striker Steve Marlet into the squad for the first time since a 2-1 defeat by Chile in Santiago in September 2000.
Lemerre's World Cup results with his former teams seems to reflect this mantra -qualification is vital, the results in the final tournament are sometimes less impressive.
"Even if the injury does keep him out of Sunday's game, this does not alter the fact that he is staying with us, " Lemerre told television station Infosport.
Roger Lemerre's Moroccan side were held to a 0-0 stalemate in their Group A clash in Rabat after missing a 33rd minute penalty through the highly-rated Mounir El Hamdaoui.
Lemerre has left Coelho with a little to do if he is to lead the Carthage Eagles to the next round of 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Lemerre called 12 players to a training camp in the Alpine resort of Tignes this week but did not say whether they would all be in his list of 22 for next month's finals.
Lemerre coached France at the 2002 World Cup where they were knocked out in the first round in defence of their title and he was also at the finals in Germany in 2006 in charge of Tunisia.
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