Marruecos vence a Mali y revalida el Campeonato Africano de Naciones
Goals from Hassania Agadir defender Soufiane Bouftini and Wydad Casablanca striker Ayoub El Kaabi helped Morocco win the CAF African Nations Championship for the second year in a row. The Maghreb team equals the Democratic Republic of Congo in terms of titles.
The tournament was originally scheduled to run from 4 to 25 April last year, but the pandemic forced its postponement.
Up to 10,000 spectators watched the match live from the Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, which hosted the match. Morocco were coming off the back of winning the title in 2018 and were hot favourites.
The competition has a characteristic nuance, and that is that the rules establish that only players from the local leagues can take part in it. In other words, players who do not play in African league competitions are not eligible for the national teams. This explains the absence of big names such as Achraf Hakimi and Hakim Ziyech among others.
From the start of the match, Morocco came out with an extra gear. However, as the minutes went by, Mali stepped up a gear. However, although the first half came to an end with a draw, the Moroccans were far superior throughout the match.
Soufiane Bouftini opened the scoring on the hour mark. Just 10 minutes later, El Kaabi did not miss the chance to increase the deficit and secure the win.
Morocco's journey did not get off to a good start. The Maghreb side's first two matches ended in a 1-0 win over Togo and a 0-0 draw with Rwanda, raising doubts among many fans.
From the third match onwards, Morocco finally seemed to regain the attacking prowess that characterised them in the 2018 tournament. They thrashed Uganda with a score of 5-2, finishing the group stage as leaders.
Morocco beat Zambia by 3 goals to 1 in the quarter-finals and in the semi-finals defeated tournament hosts Cameroon with an emphatic 4-0 win.
Despite not scoring in the tournament final, Moroccan striker Soufiane Rahimi, who plays for Raja Casablanca, finished top scorer with a total of five goals.
