HIBAPRESS – Sports
The Moroccan national team will play a strong match against its Nigerian counterpart on Wednesday evening in the semi-finals of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, in a pivotal match through which the Atlas Lions aim to get one step closer to achieving the continental title that has been absent from their coffers since the 1976 edition.
The Moroccan team's qualification to the semi-finals came after a deserved victory over the Cameroon national team with two goals to nil in the quarter-finals, signed by both Ibrahim Diaz and Ismail Saibari, to continue the national team's steady course in the tournament that it is hosting on its land and in front of its fans.
4 previous matches in the semi-finals and only one win
Morocco's history in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations carries repeated stumbling blocks, having failed to advance to the final on 3 previous occasions, the first of which was in 1980 in Nigeria when they lost to the organizing team with a goal to nil, then in the 1986 and 1988 editions in Egypt and Morocco after losing by the same result against the Egyptian and Cameroonian teams.
The Atlas Lions were only able to break this barrier in the 2004 edition, when they achieved their first victory in the semi-finals by thrashing the Mali national team with four clean goals, two of which were scored by Youssef Mokhtari and Youssef Hajji and Nabil Baha added two other goals, but the ambition to win a second title was met with defeat in the final match against Tunisia with two goals to one, knowing that Morocco's only title in 1976 was achieved through the group system and not through the knockout rounds.
