Morocco coach Walid Regragui urges calm as hosts reach Afcon last four by beating Cameroon
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Morocco's Brahim Diaz celebrating at the end of the 2-0 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final win over Cameroon at the Stade Moulay Hassan in Rabat on Jan 9.
PHOTO: AFP
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- Morocco defeated Cameroon 2-0 in the AFCON quarter-final, with goals from Brahim Diaz and Ismael Saibari. Diaz has scored in all five of Morocco's games.
- Senegal beat 10-man Mali 1-0, with Iliman Ndiaye scoring the only goal. Mali's captain Yves Bissouma was sent off before halftime.
- Morocco will face the winner of Algeria vs Nigeria. Senegal have booked a semi-final berth and will play in the next round.
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RABAT – Morocco coach Walid Regragui hailed a “historic” achievement in seeing his side reach the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on Jan 9, but warned that the hosts have not yet achieved anything at the tournament.
“We need to just keep going one game at a time. We have not done anything yet,” he insisted, after the Atlas Lions beat Cameroon 2-0 in their quarter-final in Rabat, thanks to goals either side of half-time from Brahim Diaz and Ismael Saibari.
Morocco, World Cup semi-finalists in 2022, set the tone with a superb first-half performance at the Stade Moulay Hassan, and Cameroon never really looked like recovering after Diaz opened the scoring in the 26th minute.
“It was our best first-half performance I think since the World Cup, with lots of pressing and intensity,” Regragui said.
“I think we deserved the win, even though things evened out a bit in the second half.”
Morocco are through to the Afcon semi-finals for the first time since 2004, when they lost the final to Tunisia with Regragui in the team. Their only continental title came in 1976.
“It is historic. Moroccans have not seen their team in the semi-finals of an Afcon for 22 years,” the coach said.
“They deserve it but we need to keep our feet on the ground and make it even more historic.”
He hailed Diaz, after the Real Madrid winger became the only player in Afcon history to score five goals in consecutive matches.
“He is the X factor of my team. He has been amazing, scoring in every game.
“Tonight he sent a message to the rest of the side with the way he ran and fought.”
Five-time champions Cameroon go home but their coach David Pagou – appointed only in the run-up to the competition – expressed pride in his players.
“We are satisfied with the boys because they have given a lot of emotions to the Cameroonian people and that was the aim,” he said.
“We wanted to go as far as possible but this is a team that is progressing and there are millions of Cameroonians who can be pleased.”
Senegal, the second-best African team in the world rankings behind Morocco, are also through to the semi-finals.
Senegal’s Iliman Ndiaye scores the only goal of the match to beat 10-man Mali.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The 2022 champions beat 10-man Mali 1-0 in a West African derby in Tangier on Jan 9, thanks to a first-half goal from Everton forward Iliman Ndiaye.
Then, for the second successive knockout match, Mali were reduced to 10 men before half-time, with captain Yves Bissouma shown a second yellow card for a foul on Idrissa Gana Gueye at the Grand Stade de Tanger.
Senegal coach Pape Thiaw said: “It was not an easy match against a talented Mali team. Had we been more clinical in front of goal, we could have scored more goals.” AFP
