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South Africa narrowly avoided a penalty in the final moments to eliminate Morocco, the predicted frontrunners before the tournament, from the Africa Cup of Nations and advance to the quarter-finals.
Bafana Bafana dominated the game and ended up winning 2-0 against the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists. Sofyan Amrabat was given a red card in the final moments and Achraf Hakimi failed to score from a penalty kick.
South Africa won just one group game to reach the knockout stages while Morocco had dominated Group F as they went in search of just a second Afcon title.
However, it was Hugo Broos’ team that took the lead when Evidence Makgopa scored a goal from a well-executed play just before the 60-minute mark.
Morocco worked hard to score a tying goal and were given a great opportunity to equalize from a penalty kick with only five minutes left.
During a VAR review, South Africa’s Mothobi Mvala was penalized for a handball, but Hakimi’s penalty kick hit the crossbar.
Despite being the favored team, Morocco was eliminated from the continental tournament.
Morocco’s situation worsened as they tried to catch up in the game. Amrabat was given a red card for tripping Teboho Mokoena as he approached the goal.
The player on loan from Manchester United initially believed he was being given a chance to continue playing due to the intervention of VAR. However, the referee Mahmood Ismail was recommended to change the second booking to a direct red card.
To add insult to injury, Mokoena got back up and expertly scored from the resulting free kick, securing South Africa’s spot in the quarter-finals against Cape Verde.
In another location, Mali maintained their lead to defeat Burkina Faso 2-1, securing a spot in the quarter-finals against the host team, Ivory Coast.
The Eagles secured a win in the knockout round thanks to an own-goal by Edmond Tapsoba and a goal by Lassine Sinayoko in the second half.
On Saturday, Mali will face Ivory Coast in their next game. This comes after the host nations beat the current Afcon champions, Senegal, in a penalty shootout on Monday.
Source: independent.co.uk
