Morocco surprisingly, but not undeservedly, lost the last round of 16 of the Africa Cup 2024. A former Dortmund player became a tragic figure, while a South African scored a dream goal
Morocco, who were without the injured Ziyech compared to the 1-0 win over Zambia – Leverkusen’s Adli started in his place – scored the first goal of the game. But En-Nesyri’s attempt was parried by Williams and then ruled offside (9′). A telling scene, as coach Walid Regragui’s team had plenty of problems
Bono has to stretch himself
The South Africans were courageous, and Mokoena even had the best chance of the first half: Bono had to make a long save from a rising shot (16′). And because ex-Dortmund player Hakimi and Bayern Munich defender Mazraoui (fit after tearing a muscle bundle) kept things ticking over on the wing, but like the rest of Morocco were barely able to break through, the first half ended goalless.
The Lions of the Atlas came out of the locker room with a lot of energy. This led to Morocco’s best chance, but Ounahi shot over the goal after Adli had won the ball (47′). The South Africans coached by Hugo Broos, who incidentally were the last team to beat Morocco (2:1 in the Africa Cup qualifiers), seemed to run out of steam
The 1:0 for the underdogs then came out of nowhere: Makgopa’s good ball reception in the penalty area after a relay in midfield made it easy for him to beat Bono (57′). At the other end, Abde was denied by Williams (59) for a furious Lions of the Atlas
Hakimi fails – Mokoena’s dream goal
While Morocco increased the pressure, the Bafana Bafana kept their cool and conceded virtually nothing. It was only in the 81st minute that the favourites got another dangerous shot on target – and because Mvala had got a hand to El Kaabi’s shot, a penalty was awarded after viewing the video footage. Only: Hakimi only hit the crossbar for the stunned Moroccans (85′).
It got even worse for Morocco at the end. Amrabat was shown a straight red for an emergency stop against Mokoena (90.+4) and the fouled player converted the resulting free-kick beautifully into the corner (90.+5). With Morocco outnumbered, there was hardly anything left to do in the ten minutes of stoppage time and the Lions of the Atlas never really posed a threat. South Africa, on the other hand, will face Cape Verde in the quarter-finals on Saturday at 9pm German time.