Libreville, January 30, 2024 (AGP) – Super favorite for this 2023 edition, Morocco was knocked out of the competition this Tuesday evening by Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
It’s a new thunderclap for a giant and favorite of this 34th African Cup of Nations. Morocco was surprised in the round of 16 against South Africa this Tuesday evening.
Arriving with the status of favorite at this CAN, the Atlas Lions came up against a solid South African team which did not bat an eyelid against the offensive armada of the semi-finalist of the World Cup in Qatar. In the absence of their offensive leader, the injured Hakim Ziyech, the Moroccans will have clearly lacked magic in this meeting dominated by them. Despite light possession of the ball (54%), Morocco only managed to score twice out of its 13 attempts.
As the minutes passed, it was ultimately South Africa which proved to be the more dangerous of the two teams and ended up opening the scoring before the hour mark, through Makgopa (0-1, 57th).
Stung, Walid Regragui’s men tried to react by putting more intensity in the opposing camp and ended up obtaining a penalty in the 80th minute, poorly negotiated by Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi who sent the ball to the transversal.
In the process, the Atlas Lions are doubly sanctioned with Sofyan Amrabat who catches Toboho Mokoena, in the position of last defender. The Moroccan midfielder is sent off and offers a well-positioned free kick to his victim, who does himself justice by curling the ball almost into the top corner (0-2, 90th +5).
The South Africans will meet Cape Verde in the quarterfinals on February 3.
WM/FSS
