Ayoub El Kaabi scored twice as hosts Morocco eased to a 3-0 victory over Zambia at the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday to secure progress to the last 16 as winners of their group.
The Olympiakos striker netted in each half in front of 62,532 fans in the capital Rabat, while Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz got the other goal as he scored for the third match running at the tournament.
Morocco finish the first round with two wins and a draw, allowing them to progress from Group A in first place with seven points. Mali finished second after a third straight draw, 0-0 against Comoros in a game they ended with 10 men, while Zambia go out.
Walid Regragui’s Moroccan side will therefore have the advantage of staying in Rabat for a last-16 clash against one of the best third-placed finishers on Sunday, January 4.
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“I think the competition really begins now,” said Regragui.
“When you have four third-placed teams going through, I don’t think you can call the first round a warm-up lap but for us it just makes it about trying to make sure we get through to the next stage in the best possible shape.
“Hopefully we will go as far as possible. That is the dream for all of us.”
A comfortable evening for the host nation also saw captain Achraf Hakimi, the African player of the year, come on as a second-half substitute for his first appearance since suffering an ankle injury with Paris Saint-Germain in early November.
The Atlas Lions had seen their world record 19-match winning run come to an end in a 1-1 draw with Mali last time out, but bounced back from that by outclassing their Zambian opponents.
Morocco are Africa’s best side according to the FIFA rankings and lie 80 places above Zambia who are 91st. Their record winning run included victories home and away against the Copper Bullets during World Cup qualifying.
Hakimi comeback
The visitors were also in the unenviable position of needing to win their last group game to be sure of going through to the knockout phase — a tough task for a country without a single AFCON victory since lifting the trophy in 2012.
Morocco went ahead with just nine minutes on the clock when a corner from the right was played short to Azzedine Ounahi and he clipped a first-time ball to the back post where El Kaabi nodded in before running away covering his face in celebration.
A superb move led to the second goal just before the half-hour mark, with Ounahi’s fantastic pass in behind the Zambian defence releasing Abde Ezzalzouli. His low ball in from the left was missed by El Kaabi but Diaz swept home for a third goal in as many matches.
Morocco made it 3-0 six minutes after half-time as El Kaabi escaped the Zambian offside trap and met another assist from the brilliant Ounahi with an overhead kick.
The goal was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded after a VAR check, allowing El Kaabi to join Diaz and Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez on three goals atop the AFCON scorers’ chart.
A huge cheer then greeted Hakimi when he came on in the 64th minute in place of Noussair Mazraoui for his first appearance of the tournament — he was only prevented from getting on the scoresheet by a good Willard Mwanza save late on.