Morocco will get off to profitable begin at Africa Cup of Nations

[ad_1] Brahim Diaz and Ayoub El Kaabi scored second-half targets as hosts Morocco bought their Africa Cup of Nations bid off to a profitable begin by beating minnows Comoros 2-0 within the match's opening recreation on Sunday.

Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a irritating first half for much-fancied Morocco, however Diaz fired residence from inside the realm 10 minutes after the interval on the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium within the capital Rabat.

Substitute El Kaabi then bought the second with a shocking overhead kick, and the victory on a moist and chilly evening units the Atlas Lions up for the possibly more durable assessments to return in Group A towards Mali and Zambia.

The end result additionally allowed Morocco, Africa's finest group within the FIFA rankings in eleventh place, to increase their world-record profitable run to 19 consecutive matches.

The sport was performed out earlier than a crowd of 60,180, with Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan – who appeared on the pitch forward of kick-off – and FIFA president Gianni Infantino amongst these in attendance.

Morocco's star man and captain Achraf Hakimi additionally ended up watching the complete recreation from the bench, with coach Walid Regragui preserving the Paris Saint-Germain full-back who has not performed since struggling an ankle damage along with his membership at the beginning of November.

It regarded set to be a protracted evening for Comoros when Morocco gained a penalty within the tenth minute as playmaker Diaz was tripped contained in the field by Iyad Mohamed.

However Rahimi's spot-kick was stored out by the legs of Yannick Pandor because the Comoros goalkeeper dived to his proper, and the guests then succeeded in thwarting their extra illustrious hosts for the rest of the primary half.

Beautiful overhead kick Nonetheless Morocco, who additionally noticed veteran centre-back Romain Saiss come off injured early on, succeeded in breaking down their opponents after half-time.

Comoros, the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago who're 108th on the earth rankings, had their resistance ended because the opening objective arrived on 55 minutes.

Manchester United's Noussair Mazraoui, beginning at right-back with Hakimi not but fairly absolutely match, picked up the ball on the precise aspect of the penalty space and squared for Actual Madrid's Spanish-born quantity 10 Diaz to attain.

Morocco, who had seen Neil El Aynaoui virtually break the impasse simply earlier than that, then noticed house open up though Comoros had an opportunity of their very own as Rafiki Stated was denied when clear by means of on objective.

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<img fetchpriority="low" src="https://s.france24.com/media/display/51cee794-dea1-11f0-b350-005056a97e36/w:1280/p:16x9/EN-20251221-190958-195741-CS.jpg" srcset="https://s.france24.com/media/display/51cee794-dea1-11f0-b350-005056a97e36/w:388/p:16x9/EN-20251221-190958-195741-CS.jpg 388w,https://s.france24.com/media/display/51cee794-dea1-11f0-b350-005056a97e36/w:720/p:16x9/EN-20251221-190958-195741-CS.jpg 720w,https://s.france24.com/media/display/51cee794-dea1-11f0-b350-005056a97e36/w:1024/p:16x9/EN-20251221-190958-195741-CS.jpg 1024w,https://s.france24.com/media/display/51cee794-dea1-11f0-b350-005056a97e36/w:1280/p:16x9/EN-20251221-190958-195741-CS.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 639px) calc(100vw - 32px), (max-width: 1076px) calc(100vw - 44px), 850px" width="1280" height="720" alt="" loading="lazy" class="a-img "/> © France 24 Mazraoui pressured a very good save from Pandor earlier than El Kaabi, of Greek giants Olympiakos, lit up the event by assembly a cross in from the left by Anass Salah-Eddine with an impressive overhead bicycle kick to make it 2-0.

Morocco's subsequent recreation shall be on Friday towards Mali, who start their marketing campaign by taking up Zambia in Casablanca on Monday.

Elsewhere on Monday, South Africa face Angola in Marrakesh earlier than Mohamed Salah's Egypt – the report seven-time African champions chasing a primary title since 2010 – get their bid up and operating towards outsiders Zimbabwe in Agadir in Group B.

This newest version of the Cup of Nations is the primary to begin in a single yr and finish in one other, with the ultimate to happen in Rabat on January 18.