By Michael Madyira
Morocco made clear their Africa Cup of Nations title intentions with a 3-0 victory over 10-man Tanzania in a Group F contest at Stade Laurent Pokou on Wednesday.
Romain Saiss opened the scoring on the half-hour mark before Azzedine Ounahi doubled their advantage on 77 minutes
Youssef En-Nesyri then completed the convincing win with 10 minutes remaining to send a message that the Atlas Lions mean business in Ivory Coast.
It was a match in which Tanzania rarely troubled Morocco, with goalkeeper Yassine Bounou practically having the day off.
Things got worse for the Taifa Stars after midfielder Novatus Miroshi was red-carded with 20 minutes to go in what paved way for the North Africans’ two other goals.
After a dull opening few minutes in the contest, Morocco went ahead when Saiss made a follow-up to Tanzania goalkeeper Aishi Manula punching back into play a Hakim Ziyech free kick and pounced on the spills.
There were then no promises of further goals until five minutes into the second half when En-Nesyri closely failed to direct the ball into the net from close range after meeting an Achraf Hakimi cross.
The East Africans then went a man down after Miroshi was punished for a hard tackle on Ounahi.
That seemed to have weakened Tanzania and Morocco went into ruthless mode to hint at having no mercy for their opponents.
Ounahi cooly placed his shot into the bottom corner after some fine exchanges with Amine Adli to double Morocco’s advantage.
Shortly after, En-Neysri made it 3-0 for the Atlas Lions but his effort was initially ruled out to have been scored from an offside position after connecting a cross from Hakimi.
The goal then stood after a VAR check and Tanzania had little prospects of a comeback, allowing the Atlas Lions to cruise to victory.
Pictured above: Azzedine Ounahi celebrates Morocco’s second goal
Image source: CAF
