The Moroccan national team completed the negative participation of the Arab teams in the current African Cup of Nations, after losing to South Africa with two unanswered goals at the end of the round of 16 matches, the day before yesterday, leaving the quarter-finals devoid of Arab teams for the third time in the history of the tournament.
The 1992 edition in Senegal, which witnessed the increase of the number of teams in the tournament to 12 teams, is the first tournament to witness the holding of the quarter-finals, after the teams were divided into four groups with three teams in each group, and the teams: Egypt, Morocco and Algeria failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.
The second time that no Arab team qualified for the quarter-finals was in the 2013 edition, which was held in South Africa with the participation of 16 teams, and witnessed the elimination of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria from the group stage.
On the other hand, this is the first time that no Arab team has qualified for the quarter-finals, after the number of teams increased to 24 teams since the 2019 edition in Egypt, which was won by the Algerian national team, while the “Pharaohs” qualified for the final of the last edition 2021 in Cameroon. However, Senegal won the title after winning on penalties.
As for the current edition in Ivory Coast, five Arab teams participated, as Tunisia and Algeria were eliminated in the group stage, before Egypt, Mauritania and Morocco joined them, losing in the round of 16.
The quarter-finals will witness a strange paradox, which is that all the teams that qualified for the quarter-finals were not present in the same round in the previous edition 2021, during which the teams: Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Gambia qualified for the quarter-finals, but in the current edition they qualified for the quarter-finals. The eight teams: Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Mali, Cape Verde, Guinea and Angola.
The exit of the Moroccan national team is a huge surprise, especially since it was the first candidate to win the title, along with the defending champion Senegal, as the “Atlas Lions” are experiencing their most prosperous period in their history, following the historic achievement they achieved by obtaining fourth place in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. While the Moroccan national team competed in the continental tournament with a complete and star-studded roster, most notably: Achraf Hakimi, Hakim Ziyech, Yassine Bono, Youssef En-Nesyri, Ezzedine Ounahi and Sofiane Amrabat, but the team left the tournament in a dramatic manner against South Africa, after Hakimi missed a penalty kick in the 85th minute, and the result was the national team’s lead. “The Boys” scored with an unanswered goal, before Morocco’s troubles increased by expelling Amrabat in the fourth minute of stoppage time, and the South African team added the second goal from a free kick, ending the hopes of fourth in the world to compete for the “Africa Cup” and win the title for the second time in its history.
For his part, coach Walid Regragui announced that he took responsibility for Morocco’s loss to South Africa, and the team’s exit in the round of 16. He said in a press conference: “The penalty kick would have given us a chance to get back in the match, but we missed it.”
He added: “I bear responsibility for everything. There are things we did not do in the match, and all the players carried out all instructions to the letter.”
He concluded his statements: “We will learn from this failure, which we did not expect or expect, and the loss is a disappointment for the fans who have supported the team since the beginning of the tournament.”
• The exit of the “Atlas Lions” team, fourth in the world, at the hands of “Al-Oulad” was a huge surprise.
Quarter-final teams
2021 edition:
– Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Gambia.
2023 edition:
– Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Mali, Cape Verde, Guinea and Angola.
Quarter-final matches
Friday, February 2
– Nigeria with Angola.
– Congo with Guinea.
Saturday 3 February
– Mali with Ivory Coast.
– Cape Verde with South Africa.
2024-01-31 22:17:52
#Africa #Cup #rejects #Arabs #quarterfinals
