Brief Christmas pause in Cup of Nations action

The Africa Cup of Nations paused for Christmas on Thursday, but it is a brief 24-hour break with two more rounds of group competition to be crammed into the next week.

The tournament in Morocco kicked off on Sunday, and the first four days of matches have run to form, with many of the favourites serving notice of their potential in their respective opening fixtures.

For the host nation, however, it was more relief than celebration when they beat tiny Comoros 2-0 in the opening game, having been under intense pressure.

Morocco has invested heavily in footballing infrastructure for the tournament, and with an eye on their co-hosting of the 2030 World Cup finals, there is an enormous burden of expectation on their team to deliver the Cup of Nations title in return.

Morocco are heavily fancied for home success, but they have a long history of flopping at the continental championship, having won the Cup of Nations once previously, some 50 years ago.

They will be back in action on Friday, facing a much tougher opponent, Mali, in Rabat in their second Group A match, with much of the focus on a possible return for captain Achraf Hakimi.

The newly crowned African Footballer of the Year faced missing the tournament when he injured an ankle in Champions League action for Paris St Germain last month but returned to training last week and could be given some game time on Boxing Day.

A spotlight also remains on Egypt’s Mohamed Salah after he was benched by Liverpool last month and then criticised his club coach.

The tournament in Morocco is a break from his club travails for Salah, who netted a dramatic late winner on Monday for Egypt as they came from behind to beat Zimbabwe.

Egypt will be hoping a return to form continues when they take on South Africa in Agadir on Friday.

There were impressive starts this week for Algeria and Senegal, who are two of the favourites, and wins also for defending champions Ivory Coast and former winners Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

The group stage of the tournament will be completed on December 31, with the last-16 kicking off on January 3. The final is on January 18.