Morocco sealed their qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations last 16 as the top team in Group F following their 1-0 win over Zambia at the Stade Laurent Pokou in San-Pedro.
Zambia needed a point in the last game of Group F to keep the hosts from getting the fourth and final qualifying spot for the best third-placed teams in the group stage.
But Hakim Ziyech scored from close range to send Ivory Coast through, which meant that Morocco won the group.
In the next round, the Atlas Lions will play South Africa on Tuesday.
Ivory Coast fired their manager, Jean-Louis Gasset, earlier on Wednesday after poor performances in the group stage put the West Africans on the verge of being eliminated early. On Monday, they will play Senegal in a very exciting last-16 match.
The Elephants are grateful to Walid Regragui’s team for giving them a second chance at the last minute, which added another dramatic twist to an exciting and unpredictable set of group games.
The Confederation of African Football banned head coach Regragui for four games for “post-match incidents” after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with DR Congo. He was not in the Morocco bench against Zambia.
Two of the games he was banned for were put on hold for a year, but the 48-year-old will still have to watch his team play Bafana Bafana in the round of 16 if their appeal is successful.
Ivory Coast was shocked when Equatorial Guinea beat them 4-0 on Monday in Group A. However, they knew that only two third-placed teams from each of the six groups would be eliminated, so they held on.
When Ghana gave up two goals in extra time to tie with Mozambique later that day and finish third in Group B with only two points, the Elephants’ spirits quickly rose. They only needed to beat the record of one other third-placed team to move ahead.
But the Elephants could only watch in growing fear as Guinea, Mauritania, and Namibia claimed three of the four spots. This meant that Zambia had to lose, or else they would have to leave early, just like big teams Algeria and Ghana.
Since Morocco had already qualified for the next round after getting four points from their first two games, the host country may have been worried about how seriously the North Africans would take their last group game.
But even though they made four changes, the Atlas Lions dominated the first half at Stade Laurent Pokou in San Pedro. Nayef Aguerd had a great chance to score, but his header went wide, and Morocco finally broke the tie, which they deserved.
The goal was harsh on Zambia’s custodian Lawrence Mulenga, who did a great job stopping Ayoub El Kaabi from putting in Achraf Hakimi’s cross, but Ziyech scored on the rebound.
That Avram Grant’s team still had a chance in the second half thanks to a great save from Amine Adli and two more great saves late in the game from Amir Richardson and Tarik Tissoudali.
But Zambia could only try to save a point by shooting long. Lameck Banda’s shot from 20 yards out went just wide, and Emmanuel Banda’s shot from further away was tipped over by Bono.
The Chipolopolo had tied eight of their previous nine Afcon games, but they couldn’t do it when they needed to. They still haven’t won a game at the finals since they were crowned surprise winners in 2012.
Photo by Gavin Barker/BackpagePix
