AA / Aksil Ouali
The Moroccan football team scored, this Tuesday early evening, their qualifying ticket to the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2022), beating their counterpart from Malawi with a score of 2 goals to 1.
The Atlas Lions thus managed to avoid the scenario of CAN 2019 in Egypt when they were taken out, in the eighth, by Benin. The Bosnian’s proteges, Vahid Halilhodžić, who were afraid of being caught in the same trap, doubted until the 45th minute of the match, before recovering just before returning to the locker room.
The first period of this game was simply breathtaking. Hostilities began immediately after a short round of observation. But, when we expected to see the first Moroccan opportunity, it was the Malawians who found the fault in the defense of the Atlas Lions.
And from the 7th minute of the game. The Malawi Flames striker, Gabadinho Mhango receives the ball in the middle of the field and shoots on goal from about 40 meters to deceive the Moroccan goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou who does not believe his eyes. Already one to zero.
Picked cold, the Moroccans tried to react from the 17th minute through Imran Louza, whose shot towards the center of the goal was stopped by Charles Thomu, heroic during this first period.
Gabadinho Mhango (Malawi), again, almost made things worse when he found himself, half an hour into the game, in the area after receiving a precise pass. But his shot goes just past the right post of the woods of Yassine Bounou.
Wanting to get back into the game as quickly, the Moroccans showed serious awkwardness in front of Malawi’s goal. Imran Louza (27th), Romain Sais (35th), Youssef En Nesyri (38th), Achraf Hakimi (4th) and Sofiane Boufal (42nd and then 44th) multiply the failures in front of the goals.
Moroccan efforts were finally rewarded just before the end of the first half. And it was Youssef En Nesyri (45+1) who equalized for Morocco.
On returning from the locker room, the pace of the game dropped in intensity and scoring opportunities were rather rare for more than 20 minutes. It took until the 70th minute to see Achraf Hakimi, who executed a marvelous free kick, give the advantage to his team (2 to 1).
Eight minutes later, Youssef En Nesyri tries his luck from inside the area but his shot is deflected for a corner. The rest of the game was also to the advantage of the Atlas Lions who could have killed the match several times. The Moroccans, as their coach said at the end of the match, obtain “a deserved qualification” and will have to cross swords with the winner of tomorrow’s match which will oppose Côte d’Ivoire to Egypt to try to make a new not towards the final coronation which had been avoiding them for several decades.
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