South Africa ends Morocco’s AFCON title dream.

AFCON 2023 continues to produce shocking outcomes, with the round of 16 clash between South Africa and Morocco being the latest. 

South Africa has booked a place in the last eight of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations after defeating Morocco 2-0 in the Round of 16 at Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pedro on Tuesday.

Despite being favourites to not only win today’s clash but the tournament itself, the Atlas Lions were unable to put the ball in the net against a South African team whose tactics appeared to be to defend in numbers and rely on few counterattacking opportunities to score.

South Africa gained more possession as the second half of the match rolled on, leading to their breakthrough. Evidence Makgopa managed to score a goal in the 55th minute.

The Atlas Lions’ biggest scoring opportunity fell to Achraf Hakimi after South Africa’s Mothobi Mvala handled the ball in the penalty area. 

But the PSG right-back hit the ball too hard and it bounced on the crossbar, missing the target.

As the Atlas Lions chased a last-gasp equalizer to send the game to extra time, South Africa extinguished any hopes of a Moroccan comeback with a second goal that sucked the air out of Morocco’s AFCON aspirations.

The battle to the semifinals will be an interesting one cause all eight countries are fierce in their defending and attacking skills.

The standing countries are Mali, Angola, South Africa, Nigeria, DR Congo, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast and Guinea.

On Friday night Nigeria will go against Angola and DR Congo will battle Guinea and on Saturday South Africa will battle Cape Verde and Mali will battle the Ivory Coast.

The finals of the tournament will be played on the 11th of February at 11:00 pm.

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