Bafana Bafana of South Africa has ended the run of the Atlas Lions of Morocco ‘s AFCON run following a 2-0 win in Yamoussoukro on Tuesday evening.
Hugo Broos’ stood their ground against the record making North Africans, Morocco, who became the first-ever African nation to reach the semi finals of the FIFA World Cup back in December 2022.
The first-half produced no goal and when Morocco thought they had the game under their wings, Evidence Makgopa broke the deadlock for South Africa against the odds to send the stadium into frenzy.
The Baroka FC striker beat the offside trap as he turned with a Themba Zwane’s pass before firing a low shot past Yassine Bounou in Morocco’s goal three minute before the hour-mark for his first goal of AFCON 2023.
Walid Regragui’s side pushed forward for an equalizer and after several futile tries, they were awarded a penalty after Mothobi Mvala blocked the a goalbound effort from Ayoub El Kaabi with his hand.
Unfortunately, Achraf Hakimi could not convert the resulting penalty from 12 yards as his effort crashed off the crossbar and out of play, with five minutes of normal time left to play, leaving Morocco on the brink of AFCON elimination.
It went from bad to worse for Morocco as Sofyan Amrabat was sent off with a straight red card after VAR review of a lastman foul on Teboho Mokoena, who scored a stunning free-kick goal from the resulting set-piece in the fifth minute of added time to final end Morocco’s hopes.
Consequences of Morocco’s AFCON exit
The exit of Morocco spells the end of all members of the top five African nations in FIFA ranking, after four of Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt have all exit the tournament.
It also means none of the sides in the quarter finals of the previous edition makes it to the last eight this time, with Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroon, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guniea and now Morocco has been sent home in Ivory Coast.
Quarter final fixturesThe battle for a place in the last eight starts on Friday, when the Super Eagles of Nigeria lockhorns with Angola the capital city of Ivory Coast, Abidjan.
Also on Saturday, the meeting between Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea will follow after the end of the first game, leaving the other two quarter final fixtures to Saturday, when Mali will take on the host Ivory Coast and later Cape Verde and South Africa will do battle.
