Ayoub El Kaabi’s brace helped Morocco to a 3-0 win over Zambia on Monday as the Africa Cup of Nations hosts cruised into the last 16 while South Africa beat Zimbabwe 3-2 to also secure a berth in the knockout phase. African player of the year Achraf Hakimi made his comeback from almost two months out injured for Morocco as Mali also qualified for the next round and Mohamed Salah was rested for Egypt’s 0-0 draw against Angola. Morocco are the tournament favourites as the host nation and Africa’s top-ranked team but they were booed off by supporters following a 1-1 draw against Mali in their last outing.
Nevertheless, Walid Regragui’s team knew a win against Zambia at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in capital Rabat would guarantee their progress to the next round in first place in Group A and they outclassed their opponents. Olympiakos striker El Kaabi nodded in an early opener and scored an overhead kick shortly after half-time, with both of his goals set up by the outstanding Azzedine Ounahi. In between, Real Madrid attacking midfielder Brahim Diaz swept home Morocco’s second goal on 27 minutes at the end of a fine team move, again involving Ounahi.
Diaz has found the net in all three of Morocco’s games so far and he and El Kaabi join Algeria captain Riyad Mahrez on three goals at the top of the Cup of Nations scoring charts. Captain Hakimi came off the bench in the 64th minute for his first appearance since suffering an ankle injury in action for Paris Saint-Germain at the beginning of November. Morocco will stay in Rabat for a last-16 tie in the same stadium on Sunday against one of the best third-place finishers.
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“Scoring early on changes everything,” said Regragui. “We need to continue like this but not get carried away and keep our feet on the ground.” Zambia go out and have now failed to win any of their 12 AFCON matches across four tournament appearances since lifting the trophy in 2012.
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