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Soufiane Boutfini celebrates with his teammates after leading Morocco to a second consecutive CHAN final
Morocco will defend its African Nations Championship (CHAN) title against Mali in Sunday’s final in Yaoundé, after the champions beat Cameroon 4-0 in Wednesday’s semi-final.
The Moroccans were simply too good for the hosts, as a Soufiane Rahimi double on either side of goals from Soufiane Bouftini and Mohammed Ali Bemammer secured a complete victory.
“It was a bit difficult for us from the beginning, but things improved when we scored the first goal,” said Morocco coach Houcine Ammouta, whose team is the first to reach the consecutive CHAN finals.
Bouftini opened the scoring in Limbe when Cameroonian goalkeeper Haschou Kerrido suffered a moment to forget, launching a free kick at the feet of his opponent just five meters away.
Rahimi doubled the lead six minutes before the break when Morocco opened up a disarrayed Cameroon defense as they slipped home with a good sacking from Abdelilah Hafidi to become CHAN’s top scorer.
Raja Casablanca striker Rahimi scored his fifth goal of the tournament after 74 minutes, when the Cameroon defense gifted him the opportunity with a misguided pass from a free kick deep into his own half that was attacked and placed in a way. expert from 30 yards.
With ten minutes remaining, Bemmamer sealed the win with a goal that was allowed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) despite the midfielder appearing to be offside.
“Nothing seemed to work for us,” said Cameroon coach Ndtoungou Mpile Martin. “Morocco made fewer mistakes.”
The North Africans clinched the title at home in 2018 by beating Nigeria 4-0 in the final.
At the beginning of the day, goalkeeper Djigui Diarra and Mamadou Coulibaly were the heroes of the penalties Mali hit Guinea after the first semi-final ended scoreless after a balanced 120 minutes at the Japoma Stadium in Douala.
Mali will be in the CHAN final for the second time and will be looking to improve on their 3-0 defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016.
After both teams scored their first four penalties each, Mali goalkeeper and captain Diarra claimed victory by saving Guinea’s fifth from Morlaye Sylla, who had been man of the match three times in the tournament.
The stoppage meant that Mamadou Coulibaly’s successful penalty shootout led Mali to the final, where they will try to become the first West African team to win the tournament, while Guinea failed in the semi-final stage for the second time after their departure. of 2016.
The match had started with a tough tackle, forcing Mali to make two changes in the first period, the first of which came after just one minute.
Guinea created the best chances in the first half and the best came against Yakhouba Gnagna Barry, who had topped the scorers list before the semi-finals began on Wednesday.
The first was a shot from eight yards that was well stopped by Diarra after 13 minutes and Barry thought he had scored in the 25th minute when he was put on goal and he whipped home only for the offside flag to be raised, a decision confirmed by VAR.
Mali started the second half with more intention and some good runs down the flanks, but there was no one in the area to reach the end of the crosses.
Within the hour, Guinea’s Morlaye Sylla forced Diarra to push a long-distance free kick over the crossbar, while Mali’s Moussa Kone will feel like he should have done better with an overhead shot 18 minutes from time, and did not hit the arc with the Guinea goalkeeper. Moussa Camara stranded.
Overtime was balanced as both sides struggled in the final third, instead resorting to trying their luck from a distance.
Guinea will regret a close-range mistake by Mamadouba Bangoura with just five minutes to go and, although they brought in replacement goalkeeper Sekouba Camara for penalties in the closing seconds, the gamble did not pay off.
As Guinea takes on a Cameroon seeking to restore pride in Douala on Saturday, Yaoundé’s Ahmadou Ahidjou Stadium will host the final the following day, as Morocco tries to become the second team, after the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to win two. times the CHAN.
