With Morocco’s surprise defeat Tuesday evening against South Africa, North African football will have no representative in the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations, a first in ten years. A rare situation but which illustrates an underlying trend: the Maghreb countries are struggling to establish themselves in sub-Saharan Africa.
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After Senegal, another favorite for the 2024 African Cup of Nations (CAN) must pack up. Morocco fell on Tuesday January 30 in San-Pédro against South Africa (2-0) in the round of 16, destroying the hopes of a second continental champion title for the Atlas Lions.
“I failed, it’s my failure, not that of the players,” declared the coach, Walid Regragui, when he had set the semi-finals as the minimum objective. “But it’s not the end of the world, we’re not the only team, a lot of favorites (have been eliminated), we’re going to come back stronger, even if we’ve been waiting for a long time,” he said. – he said, referring to Morocco’s only victory in CAN, in 1976.
The first African team to reach the final four of a World Cup in December 2022, Morocco seemed to have all the cards in hand to go far in the competition. But against South Africa, the Atlas Lions, forced to play the game, never managed to find the fault in the Bafana Bafana defense.
North African football is falling by the wayside
Walid Regragui’s men thought they had found salvation four minutes from time, when they won a penalty, but Achraf Hakimi missed the equalizer by sending the ball over the crossbar before the South Africans scored a second goal in stoppage time from a masterful free kick.
“Morocco did not want to give in and we can understand it when we see the offensive qualities of this South African team. But in the end, they played an insipid match and they will undoubtedly regret not having entered into the match earlier. their match”, said François Pinet, sports journalist at RMC, on France 24.
With the elimination of Morocco, CAN 2024 sees the last representative of North African football leave the competition at the quarter-final level: Algeria and Tunisia were eliminated in the first round, Egypt, continental giant with seven crowns, fell in the round of 16 against DR Congo. We have to go back to 2013 and the CAN organized in South Africa to see such a fiasco.
“At the time, there were only 16 teams. Today, out of 24, none pass,” notes journalist Xavier Barret. “Like Morocco, teams from the Maghreb have difficulty during the CANs organized in sub-Saharan Africa but we thought that this trend had been corrected.”
Calendar, climate…
While they often shine at home, North African teams have the greatest difficulty winning south of the Sahara. Egypt, however, stands out with its victories in 1998 in Burkina Faso, in 2008 in Ghana and in 2010 in Angola.
A success that the Egyptians owe largely to a solid team structure, formed by local players, accustomed to the playing conditions and climate of the continent. Even Pharaohs stars expatriated in Europe, like Mohamed Salah, started their careers in Egypt. On the other hand, Moroccan dual nationals, and to a lesser extent Algerian or Tunisian, who have never played in a club in their country of origin sometimes have difficulty acclimatizing.
Another problem that has been raised for many years: the calendar. Traditionally organized between the months of January and March, the CAN represents an additional challenge for the organizations of North African players playing in European championships. But these explanations often put forward to justify the poor performances of Maghreb teams are not enough to explain such a rout, believes Tunisian journalist Ahmed Adala.
“The North African teams, their coaches, their supporters and the football leaders in these countries will have to put their feet on the ground. Let’s leave the conditions (heat and humidity) aside, let’s put our feet back on the ground. The arrogance, the futile declarations, the choices, the strategies. Everything needs to be reviewed. Another lesson”, scathes the journalist from Mosaïque FM on X.
The North African teams, their coaches, their supporters and the football leaders in these countries will have to put their feet on the ground. Let’s leave the conditions (heat and humidity) aside, let’s put our feet back on the ground.
Arrogance, futile declarations,…
— Ahmed Adala (@Scoulino) January 30, 2024
A slightly crazy edition
With this elimination of the North African teams in the quarter-finals, CAN 2024 confirms its status as a competition with an unpredictable scenario. Beyond the cruel fate reserved for the Maghreb teams, another statistic is striking: all the last qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup (Ghana, Cameroon, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal) have already returned home.
“It should also be noted that none of the quarter-finalists were in the last edition. Which is still crazy. The cards were completely redistributed in two years. Today, we know that he there are no more small teams and we have to be able to play the game,” analyzes François Pinet.
🚨𝙇𝙚 𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙯-𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙨?
The first 5 nations in the FIFA rankings published very recently in December 2023 are all eliminated in the Round of 16 of this CAN Ivory Coast 🇮🇪 2023. 1.Morocco🇲🇦 ❌,2. Senegal🇸🇳 ❌3. Tunisia🇹🇳 ❌,4. Algeria🇩🇿 ❌
5. Egypt🇪🇬 ❌ pic.twitter.com/8w6117BbHC— Ben Akili (@BenAkili3) January 31, 2024
In these conditions, very few risk the little game of predictions. To reach the last four, South Africa will have a hard time facing the surprising Cape Verde team, who will be playing the second quarter-final in their history.
See alsoCAN 2024: what results and what program before the quarter-finals of the competition?
The clash between Mali and Ivory Coast promises to be just as uncertain: after eliminating the reigning champion Senegal, the Elephants are now big favorites with Nigeria. A label which until now has not brought luck to the teams of this CAN.
