Morocco kept its Africa Cup of Nations title hopes alive in front of a roaring home crowd after defeating Cameroon 2 to 0 in Friday’s quarterfinal. In another match, Senegal secured its place in the semifinals with a victory over Mali.
A packed Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, filled with sixty four thousand supporters, witnessed an inspired Moroccan performance. Real Madrid winger Brahim Diaz put Morocco ahead with his fifth goal in five AFCON matches, while Ismail Saibari sealed the win in the second half.
Diaz made history as the first Moroccan player to score five goals in a single AFCON tournament. He also became the only player in fifty seven years to score in each of the first five matches of the competition.
Morocco will face the winner of today’s clash between Algeria and Nigeria in the semifinals. After the historic win, coach Walid Regragui urged caution, saying the team must take the tournament one match at a time. He reminded fans that despite reaching the semifinals for the first time in twenty two years, nothing has been achieved yet.
Regragui added that Moroccan supporters deserve this moment after more than two decades without seeing their team reach this stage. He stressed the importance of staying grounded and turning this achievement into something even more historic.
Morocco, Africa’s highest ranked team and a 2022 World Cup semifinalist, carries the added pressure of performing at home. While questions remain about whether they can handle that pressure, their path so far suggests they are firmly on track. This is their first semifinal appearance since losing the 2004 final to Tunisia. The last time Morocco hosted AFCON, in 1988, they lost a semifinal to Cameroon, but there was no sign of history repeating this time.
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