Diaz leads Morocco to pursue the African dream

Real Madrid striker Ibrahim Abdelkader Diaz led his country, Morocco, to continue its dream of winning the title for the first time in 50 years and the second in its history when he scored the winning goal over Tanzania 1-0, allowing them to qualify for the quarter-finals of the African Football Cup of Nations today, Sunday, at Prince Moulay Abdullah Stadium in Rabat, in front of 63,894 spectators.
Diaz scored the goal in the 64th minute, his fourth in the tournament, so he was alone at the top of the scorers list, ahead of his compatriot Ayoub El Kaabi, the striker of neighboring Algeria, Riyad Mahrez, and Malian Lassine Senayoko.
In the next round, Morocco will meet next Friday at the same stadium with South Africa or Cameroon, who will meet later at the Medina Stadium in the capital.
Morocco caught up with Senegal, the champion of the 2022 edition, and Mali, who set a match in the quarter-finals on Friday also in Tangier, after defeating Sudan 3-1 and Tunisia 3-2 on penalties (regular and extra time 1-1) on Saturday at the opening of the quarter-finals.
This is the fifth time that Morocco has reached the quarter-finals, after 1998 and 2004, when it reached the final, and 2017 and 2022.
The 1976 champion put an end to Tanzania’s adventure, which reached the final 16 for the first time in its history with only two points (one of the top four in the group stage), even though it is still panting after its first victory in the continental tournament.
Atlas Lions coach Walid Regragui made two substitutions for the squad that beat Zambia in the final third round. He included Ashraf Hakimi and Bilal El-Khanous as starters for the first time after the former recovered from an ankle injury that kept him out of the first two matches, and the latter replaced Azzedine Ounahi, who suffered an injury to his left ankle that largely ended his participation in the tournament, as he arrived on the field using crutches and wearing a brace. Serve it.
Tanzania almost surprised Morocco at the beginning of the match with a counterattack, as a result of which striker Abdullah Slimani penetrated and passed a cross to the unmarked former striker of Defense Hassani Jadidi and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco Simon Msufa, who headed it outside the goal (3).
Morocco found it difficult to break up the defensive formation of the Tanzanians, even though it succeeded in opening the scoring through Ismail Sibari with a header from close range, but the goal was canceled due to offside after resorting to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) (15).
Diaz wasted a golden opportunity to score when Ayoub Al Kaabi prepared a ball for him inside the area and he shot it powerfully over the crossbar (37).
Al-Kaabi almost did it with a header from close range following a pass by Abdel Samad Al-Zalzouli that passed near the left post (38).
Morocco continued its search for scoring in the second half, and Al-Sibari shot a powerful ball from outside the area into the hands of goalkeeper Hussein Masalanga (47), a strong header by Al-Zalzouli from close range, which the goalkeeper cleared for a corner (50), and a shot by Al-Khanous over the crossbar (52).
Al-Kaabi missed an easy opportunity when he received a cross from Hakimi and headed it near the right post (55).
Faisal Salloum followed suit when a ball was prepared for him in front of goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and he shot it over the crossbar (56).
The crossbar prevented Hakimi from opening the scoring by blocking his powerful ball from a direct free kick (60).
Moroccan pressure resulted in a goal when Hakimi passed the ball to Diaz inside the area, so he manipulated defender Ibrahim Hammad and shot it powerfully with his left hand from a difficult angle, deceiving the goalkeeper (64).