Hosts Morocco off to winning start at Africa Cup of Nations

Brahim Diaz and Ayoub El Kaabi scored second-half goals as hosts Morocco got their Africa Cup of Nations bid off to a winning start by beating minnows Comoros 2-0 in the tournament’s opening game on Sunday.

Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a frustrating first half for much-fancied Morocco, but Diaz fired home from inside the area 10 minutes after the interval at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the capital Rabat.

Substitute El Kaabi then got the second with a stunning overhead kick, and the victory on a wet and cold night sets the Atlas Lions up for the potentially tougher tests to come in Group A against Mali and Zambia.

The result also allowed Morocco, Africa’s best team in the FIFA rankings in 11th place, to extend their world-record winning run to 19 consecutive matches.

“The match went as we thought it would, because the opening game is always difficult for the host nation due to all the expectation,” said coach Walid Regragui.

“We have been preparing for this for two years so there was a lot of tension.

“The 2-0 scoreline is well deserved, and we could even have scored a third had we not relaxed a little in the last five minutes.

“It is great for the fans but the objective was not to produce our best possible performance in the first match.”

The game was played out before a crowd of 60,180, with Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan — who appeared on the pitch ahead of kick-off — and FIFA president Gianni Infantino among those in attendance.

Morocco’s star man and captain Achraf Hakimi also ended up watching the entire game from the bench, with Regragui preserving the Paris Saint-Germain full-back who has not played since suffering an ankle injury with his club at the start of November.

“We didn’t want to take any risk with Achraf. We are being very careful with him,” Regragui said.

It looked set to be a long night for Comoros when Morocco won a penalty in the 10th minute as playmaker Diaz was tripped inside the box by Iyad Mohamed.

But Rahimi’s spot-kick was kept out by the legs of Yannick Pandor as the Comoros goalkeeper dived to his right, and the visitors then succeeded in thwarting their more illustrious hosts for the remainder of the first half.

Stunning overhead kick

However Morocco, who also saw veteran centre-back Romain Saiss come off injured early on, succeeded in breaking down their opponents after half-time.

Comoros, the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago who are 108th in the world rankings, had their resistance ended as the opening goal arrived on 55 minutes.

Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui, starting at right-back with Hakimi not yet quite fully fit, picked up the ball on the right side of the penalty area and squared for Real Madrid’s Spanish-born number 10 Diaz to score.

Morocco, who had seen Neil El Aynaoui almost break the deadlock just before that, then saw space open up although Comoros had a chance of their own as Rafiki Said was denied when clean through on goal.

Mazraoui forced a good save from Pandor before El Kaabi, of Greek giants Olympiakos, lit up the occasion by meeting a cross in from the left by Anass Salah-Eddine with a magnificent overhead bicycle kick to make it 2-0.

Morocco’s next game will be on Friday against Mali, who begin their campaign by taking on Zambia in Casablanca on Monday.

Elsewhere on Monday, South Africa face Angola in Marrakesh before Mohamed Salah’s Egypt — the record seven-time African champions chasing a first title since 2010 — get their bid up and running against outsiders Zimbabwe in Agadir in Group B.

This latest edition of the Cup of Nations is the first to start in one year and end in another, with the final to take place in Rabat on January 18.