Ayoub El Kaabi came off the bench to score a sublime winner in the 88th minute when Morocco came up with one goal short to defeat a stubborn South African side 2-1 in the opening match of Group K of Cup qualifiers. ‘Africa TotalEnergies 2023.
Bafana stopper Ronwen Williams put on a great show to keep his team in the game, but was hacked with a late winner when the Atlas Lions began their campaign in a home win.
Youssef En Nesyri scored a draw in the second half to cancel out Lyle Foster’s seventh-minute goal, and El Kaabi made sure all points were protected by a volley with two minutes left in full time.
While South Africa went to the rest with a one-goal lead, all cheers went to their goalkeeper Williams who kept them in the game with brilliant saves.
The visitors took the lead early in the seventh minute when Foster struck low past the goalkeeper after being pushed back by a Sphelo Sithole defensive division pass. But that was mainly about the attack on the Bafana Bafana.
From that point on, it proved to be a duel between the Moroccan attacking line and goalkeeper Williams.
The stopper made two brilliant saves within a minute after the quarter-hour mark to push Youssef En Nesyri back. The keeper first stopped his strong head from a cross to the left at full range before making a flight save to deny the attacker’s left curving shot.
In the 18th minute Morocco had another glorious chance when the ball landed gently on Tarik Tissoudali inside the box, but his swinging shot was awkward.
Williams was called into action again in the 34th minute making another major save, this time denying Ilias Chair a clever low block after entering the edge of the box from left.
Adam Masina of Morocco is challenged by Thibang Phete of South Africa during the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifying football match between Morocco and South Africa held at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdallah in R.
The home side’s Tissoudali came close to extending the visitors’ lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over Selim Amallah but overcooked it and hit the bar instead.
In the second minute of injury time, Williams made another crucial save to block Achraf Hakimi who pulled the trigger with a nice shot from the right.
In the second half, Morocco continued with their pressure and Williams was finally violated five minutes after the second half when En Nesyri went home from close range. The striker finally reached his goal after captain Roman Saiss led a deep cross in his trajectory.
Chair almost won the 2-1 seven minutes later when he flew a belt from a distance, but flew straight into the arms waiting for the goalkeeper.
Williams made another brilliant save in the 76th minute, this time adjusting his body perfectly to jump to the right and fend off the head of substitute Ayoub El Kaabi.
From the resulting set kick, South Africa defended well and launched a counterattack, with Percy Tau putting Foster for his second but not pulling out a good shooting technique, the ball flew over. Tau had another quick chance on a similar counterattack, but this time he took the responsibility himself, pulling over the crossroads.
El Kaabi finally reached his goal with two minutes of regulation time to play when he fired home a volley from inside the small area on Amine Harit’s cross from the left.