By: Alusine Rehme Wilson
Two of the best ranked teams in Africa, Morocco and Senegal on Tuesday showed their class once again as they respectively overpowered their opponents Malawi and Cape Verde in the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations round of sixteen with well deserved victories to confirm their places in the tournament’s quarterfinals after Tunisia and Burkina Faso earned theirs.
During the match between Morocco and Malawi which took place at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, Malawi forward Gabadinho Mhango netted in the seventh minute for the Flames to put his team in front of their Moroccan counterparts whose goalkeeper Yassine Bounou failed to stop Mhango's strike from entering the goal through the top corner.
The Flames of Malawi intensified their campaign after their fast and shocking goal but just two minutes of added time to the end of the first half, The Atlas Lion's striker Yusuf En-Nesyri nodded the ball into the opponent's net from a well taken corner kick by Sofiane Boufal to level the score at 1-1.
Coming from the dugouts, the Moroccan side reenergized themselves, piled more pressure on the Malawi Flames until they succeeded to score their second goal of the day, 70 minutes on the clock courtesy of defender Achraf Hakimi well slotted free kick that whip the Flames’ goalkeeper Charles Thom.
The Atlas Lions did not end their hunt for more goals but created more chances to increase their 2-1 lead but they were mettled stiff resistance by the defensive line of the Flames who endured the pressure but unfortunately could not fight back, hence bowing out of the tournament following the day’s defeat to Morocco..
Elsewhere, at the Stade Omnisports de Bafoussam , Senegal took advantage of their numerical power in the other round of sixteen match that was played on Tuesday, beating nine man Cape Verde 2-0.
All goals were scored in the second half, thanks Sadio Mane and Bamba Dieng brave ball decisions which let them scored to earn their ambitious technician Aliou Cisse and the rest of his squad a spot in the tournament’s quarter finals.
The 2019 runners-up did had a well contested match in the start of the match but were eventually gifted an easy route to progress from the AFCON round of sixteen two Cape Verde players (Midfielder Patrick Andrade and goalkeeper Josimar Dias otherwise known as Vozinha were both red carded in the 21st and 57th minutes .
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