Morocco will indeed be in the quarter-finals of the 2025 African Cup of Nations (CAN). Sunday January 4, the hosts of the competition defeated Tanzania (1-0) after a game that they dominated without showing serenity, at the Prince-Moulay-Abdellah stadium, in Rabat. They will have to face Cameroon, who eliminated South Africa (2-1), in the next round.
Faced with enterprising Tanzanians who were determined to produce some play, the Atlas Lions almost conceded the opener from the start of the match. Launched deep on the right side, Selemani Mwalimu then crosses for his attacking partner, Simon Msuva, at the far post. The striker finds himself alone in front of a goal abandoned by Yassine Bounou, but fails to head the ball (3e).
A little timid, the Moroccans – who were able to count on the return of Parisian Achraf Hakimi, holder – gradually recovered their senses. Coach Walid Regragui’s men had control of the ball and created a few chances without hitting a single shot during the first period. The fault lies in a cruel lack of precision in the last gesture.
Fourth goal for Brahim Diaz
“We were not at the levelargued Walid Regragui after the meeting. We had a lot of technical waste, there was stress too, we could clearly have been surprised. »
The solution finally came from Brahim Diaz, on the hour mark. In great form since the start of the tournament, the Real Madrid striker got rid of a hook from his opponent and took advantage of a poor placement by the Tanzanian goalkeeper, Hussein Masalanga, to strike hard at the near post (1-0, 64e). A liberating goal for the 63,894 spectators, almost all of whom supported the Moroccan cause.
With this achievement, the number 10 has four goals in as many matches played in this CAN and appears as the main danger of the Moroccan attack when it comes time to play the quarter-finals, Friday January 9, against Cameroon.
The renewal of Cameroon
The Indomitable Lions – five times African champions –, who had not put one foot in front of the other for a year and a half due to an open conflict between the sports ministry and the president of the Federation, the star Samuel Eto’o, arrived in the tournament on tiptoe, without any certainty. But they are gaining strength, like their meeting against Bafana Bafana, Sunday evening in Rabat, at the end of which, after being manhandled for a half, they finally imposed themselves with authority.
Cameroon owes a lot for this renewal to David Pagou, its coach, inducted just twenty days before the start of the competition, replacing the Belgian Marc Brys, of whom he was the assistant. Pagou, a man in the shadows and trusted by Eto’o, cleaned up the squad and asked his players to behave like soldiers during the tournament. To do this, he relied on a very young backbone made up of promising players serving the collective rather than on proven talents, all of whom were left aside.
It was also two of its young players who scored against South Africa. First it was the full-back Junior Tchamadeu, 22, shunned by Marc Brys and returned to favor with Pagou, who opened the scoring, against the run of play, after a blocked strike from Carlos Baleba following a corner (1-0, 34e).
Then Christian Kofane, 19, the nugget of Bayer Leverkusen, who shines in the Bundesliga but had no selection with the Lions before the CAN, doubled the lead with a header at the very start of the second half, taking a perfect cross from Mahamadou Nagida, who came into play during the first act in place of the injured Darlin Yongwa from Lorient (2-0, 47e).
But then it was the experience of their goalkeeper that made the difference. Devis Epassy, 32, the only thirty-year-old in the team at kick-off, twice repelled South African attacks (62e et 69e). He could do nothing, however, at the very end of the match when Evidence Makgopa took home a cross from Aubrey Modiba at close range (2-1, 88e). But it was too late for the South Africans.
