Tops
During a half, Morocco made the Zambian players dance the samba. Boufal, Ounahi, Ziyech, had a great time. They all went there with their dribbles and showed all the colors to the Chipolopolos, stifled in their last meters throughout the first period, as evidenced by the 71% Moroccan possession and their 11 strikes in 45 minutes. Unfortunately, this spectacle lasted too little time and upon returning from the locker room, the Atlas Lions calmed their enthusiasm, giving way to the management of this third group match.
The Brentford striker seemed alone in the Congolese attacking quartet. Fast, incisive, he was the real leopard, the others were content to watch him do it. In a disorganized team, Wissa was often forced to go low on the pitch, to advance the actions of a divided formation. Leader of a drifting attack, he narrowly missed in front of the Tanzanian cage on several occasions, but at least had the merit of bringing danger with his strikes. Facing Egypt in the eighth, the leopard will have to be accompanied by the whole troop if they want to get rid of the Pharaohs.
Flops
Sébastien Desabre coach of the Republic of Congo had however warned, even if they only needed a draw, the Leopards were not there to settle for a tie. In the end it was not the case, the DRC was laborious in developing its opportunities, worse still the bloc was almost cut in two. The midfielder made up of Kakuta, Moutoussamy and Pickel failed to make a connection with the attack, leaving the attackers alone at times. The only solution they found was to send Mayele and Wissa into trouble by throwing long balls at them in front. Technical waste, inaccuracies and too little creativity, Sébastien Desabre’s promise was not kept.
Of all the Lions of the Atlas, the most majestic was the captain. In all the good moves, Ziyech set an example for his teammates, facing the Zambians who were very limited in their impacts. After several fouls not called by Patrice Tanguy Mebiam including a penalty on Boufal, what was supposed to happen happened. The aggressiveness finally resulted in the slight injury of the best player on the pitch, hit in the ankle. Hakim Ziyech did not take any risks and preferred to go out, taking with him the intensity of the match. Without him the second half was bland, and all this would not have happened if the Gabonese referee had sanctioned the poor defensive behavior of the Chipolopolos earlier. The Moroccan number 7 was seen limping at the end of the match, hoping it wasn’t too serious.
