Morocco joined the ranks of shock casualties within the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to South Africa on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Mali secured a spot within the quarterfinals.
Bafana Bafana’s Evidence Makgopa and Teboho Mokoena discovered the online within the second half, including to Morocco’s woes.
South Africa as soon as once more proved to be a formidable opponent for the Atlas Lions, with Achraf Hakimi lacking a penalty.
Despite a formidable document since reaching the World Cup semifinals in Qatar two years in the past, successful 11 out of 13 matches, Morocco’s solely two defeats on this interval have come by the hands of South Africa.
The shock last-16 end result within the muggy Ivory Coast coastal metropolis of San-Pedro got here after Mali overcame Burkina Faso 2-1 in Korhogo, with Lassine Sinayoko scoring what proved the important thing objective.
Morocco joins defending champions Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon and Burkina Faso as groups ranked among the many prime 10 in Africa heading house early.
On Saturday, South Africa will face Cape Verde in Yamoussoukro after hosts Ivory Coast and Mali conflict in Bouake.
In the opposite quarterfinals, Victor Osimhen-inspired Nigeria face Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo meets Guinea on Friday.
South Africa, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and DR Congo are former champions, whereas the opposite 4 title contenders are hoping to beat Africa for the primary time.
While Morocco, because of their World Cup heroics, have been favored to get rid of South Africa, two components recommended there was an opportunity of a shock.
South Africa had received two and drawn two of 5 earlier Cup of Nations conferences with Morocco from 1998.
And regardless of being an African powerhouse for many years, Morocco has persistently flopped on the Cup of Nations since their lone triumph 48 years in the past.
Coach Walid Regragui referred to as the repeated failures an “African curse,” and the previous nationwide group full-back noticed medical South Africa pull off a deserved victory.
Makgopa stayed simply onside to fireplace Bafana in entrance on 57 minutes, and Morocco squandered an important late probability to equalize when Hakimi fired a penalty towards the crossbar and over.
Red card
A foul on Mokoena by Manchester United midfielder Sofyan Amrabat led to a VAR overview that ended with a straight crimson card as he was the final defender.
Set-piece specialist Mokoena fired the free kick previous Yassine Bounou and excessive into the online on the close to submit.
Sinayoko scored his third objective on the Cup of Nations as Mali reached the quarterfinals for the primary time since 2013 by defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 in Korhogo earlier on Tuesday.
An early Edmond Tapsoba objective obtained Mali off to an important begin within the last-16 tie, and Sinayoko doubled the lead simply after halftime.
Captain Bertrand Traore diminished arrears from a penalty for Burkina Faso, who had the ball within the web once more just for Issoufou Dayo to be dominated offside.
Victory was a welcome change of fortune for Mali, who has had two first-round and two last-16 exits since ending third in South Africa 11 years in the past.
“It was a really tough match against a good side. We had to work extra hard, but I am glad we eventually got the result,” stated Sinayoko.
“We can celebrate this victory while keeping at the back of our minds that there is still a lot of work ahead.”
The match within the northern Ivorian metropolis kicked off in 36 levels Celsius (97 Fahrenheit) warmth, and Mali wanted solely 133 seconds to attain the second-fastest objective within the match.
A strong Amadou Haidara header off a cross rebounded off the submit, struck the left foot of Tapsoba, and rebounded into the online for an personal objective.
Watched by Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe from South Africa, the soccer hardly ever excited the almost-capacity 19,154 crowd till the half-hour mark.
Then, Sinayoko stung the fingers of goalkeeper Herve Koffi with a tough close-range shot that was parried.
Mali went two targets forward two minutes into the second half as Sinayoko broke away from Tapsoba and beat Koffi with an angled shot.
But the lead was halved at 57 minutes when Boubakar Kouyate dealt with a cross and Traore transformed his third penalty of the match as Mali goalkeeper Djigui Diarra dived the unsuitable method.
Long-serving defender Dayo thought he had leveled within the ultimate minute of normal time by heading a free-kick previous Diarra however was dominated offside.
Source: www.dailysabah.com