Maravi Express
At the Ahmadou Ahidjou stadium in Yaoundé tonight from 18:00hrs CAT is the focal point of when Egypt and Morocco lock horns in their quarterfinal match of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021.
It has been dubbed as the ‘Thriller North African Derby’ when the Pharaohs and Atlas Lions look for a place in the semifinals, with the title itself as the ultimate target.
Egypt started on a low note followed by steady and convincing results. After losing 0-1 to Nigeria, Egypt have not conceded a goal, beating Guinea Bissau and Sudan, before needing penalties to oust Cote d’Ivoire.
The Pharaohs would hope their superstar Mohamed Salah to be in form once again as they know the mission against Morocco would not be an easy one to face.
Closely marked Mo Salah against Côte d’Ivoire
Mo Salah scored the all-important penalty against Côte d’Ivoire in Round of 16 to steer the Pharaohs into the quarterfinals
Before the tussle against Côte d’Ivoire Mo Salah told CAFonline that he has only one trophy in mind and heart — the AFCON from his dear continent.
“I lost it in Gabon 2017 against Cameroon in the final, but I can assure you that it is the trophy that I want to win most,” he had said prior to the tussle against Cote d’Ivoire.
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“I work to win it and that is the story with all the Egyptian players present here. AFCON is an extremely difficult competition and from the start, you have seen that even the best teams were struggling to win.”
This will be the seventh AFCON encounter between Egypt and Morocco, with Morocco winning three of the previous six (D1 L2), although Egypt won the most recent such match, in the quarter-finals in 2017 (1-0).
Egypt, the record seven-time champions — 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998 and back-to-back in 2006, 2008 and 2010 (all from 25 appearances) —have won each of their last four quarter-final matches at the Africa Cup of Nations, having progressed in just one of their previous five such games in the competition (L4).
Morocco have won six of their last eight AFCON matches (D2), scoring in every game in this run – they’re looking to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since finishing runners-up to Tunisia in 2004.
Egypt have conceded just seven goals in their 20 games at the Africa Cup of Nations since 2010 (W14 D3 L3), keeping 14 clean sheets – only Gambia this year have conceded fewer goals per game (0.25, 1/4) than the Pharoah’s in that time (0.35).
Morocco’s Romain Saiss has accumulated an expected goals tally of 1.99 from his five attempts at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the highest xG of any player who’s yet to score in this year’s competition.
Morocco coach, Vahid Halilhodzic knows the derby is one important step towards the title they are chasing since winning their only trophy back in 1976.
Having won three games and drawn one in this tournament, Achraf Hakimi and teammates produced some very good performances to reach the quarterfinals in style.—Additional stats by CAFonline
