RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Youssef El-Nesyri scored the winning penalty and Yassine “Bono” Bounou saved two as Morocco advanced to the Africa Cup of Nations final with a 4-2 win on penalties over Nigeria on Wednesday.
Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali saved one but was bettered by Bono in the shootout after the teams drew 0-0 with extra time in front of 65,458 mostly Morocco supporters in Rabat’s Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.
“We played with 12 (players),” Morocco coach Walid Regragui said of the fans. There were some green-clad Nigeria fans present, struggling to make themselves heard.
The host nation set up a title match in the same stadium Sunday with 2021 champion Senegal, which defeated Egypt 1-0 the other semifinal earlier in Tangier.
Morocco is bidding for its first title since its only success in 1976 and tickets for the decider are likely to command steep prices.
There were reports before Wednesday’s game that tickets with a face value of 300-500 dirhams ($32-42) for the semifinal were going for as much as 7,000 dirhams ($760) or more on the illegal market.
It was easy to tell which team was in possession from the deafening chorus of fans’ whistles any time a Nigeria player had the ball.
Calvin Bassey was the first to receive the home fans’ piercing welcome when he took a walk out alone on the field before the match. He responded with a huge smile.
Morocco went close with the early chances with Semi Ajayi producing a brilliant block to stop Ismael Saibari. Brahim Díaz whipped a shot past the far post and then tried riling up the already riled crowd.
Bassey was booked for a tactical foul outside the penalty box, which would have ruled him out of the final with a suspension if the Super Eagles made it. Instead he'll miss the unpopular third-place decider against Egypt in Casablanca on Saturday.
Ademola Lookman had Nigeria’s only shot on target — too close to Bono in the Morocco goal after some fine team play. Ultimately, there was too little of that from the Super Eagles.
“It was a team that had scored 14 goals. They had two shots and only hit the target once. That tells you something,” Regragui said.
His team had 16 shots, five on target, with Díaz, Ayoub El Kaabi and Achraf Hakimi all enjoying good chances. Nigeria held on to get the game to the shootout, where Bono saved from Samuel Chukwueze and Bruno Onyemaechi to set up El-Nesyri for the winner.
AP at the Africa Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-cup-of-nations
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cube_corner said:
cube_corner said:
Letters to the Editor like this give me total conviction that President Trump has (temporarily) saved the country from rule by lunatics.
cube_corner said:
Why is the San Mateo Daily journal posting a one sentence article about Greenland?
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