Morocco, the host team and great favorite for the title, suffered more than expected but delivered by beating Comoros 2-0 in the match that opened the 2025 African Cup of Nations football this Sunday in Rabat.
Walid Regragui’s pupils … semi-finalists of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, faced goalkeeper Yannick Pandor for almost an hour, who even stopped a penalty against local Soufiane Rahimi in the 11th minute.
However, The Comorian resistance was defeated in the 55th minute by Brahim Díaza Spanish-Moroccan player for Real Madrid who is not doing too well at the start of the season with his club, and his teammate Ayoub El Kaabi gave the locals peace of mind in the 74th minute with an acrobatic shot from Nayef Aguerd’s center.
The Moroccan goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou, had earlier, in the 59th minute of the match, prevented Rafiki Saïd from tying for Comoros.
The Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimirecently recovered from an ankle injury, was left on the bench as expected in this opening match of the tournament. “We need Hakimi because he is the best player in Africa and one of the best in the world,” explained Regragui. «But we didn’t want to take any risks with Achraf. “We have been very careful and we will see in the next 48 hours if he can be in the next game,” he said.
With the mission accomplished despite the lack of forcefulness, Morocco initially takes command of group A completed by Mali and Zambia, its next adversaries.
Electrical environment
Before the match, the only one this Sunday on the African Cup program, the opening ceremony of the tournament took place at the Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium, where only the rain partially spoiled the evening. The person in charge of giving the symbolic kick-off was Moulay El-Hassan, the crown prince of the Moroccan kingdom.
In the stands, the Moroccan fans created an electric and enthusiastic atmosphere to start a competition in which Morocco aspires to achieve its second continental champion title, after the one achieved in the now distant 1976.
