Favourites Morocco beat Tanzania 3-0 to open AFCON 2023 campaign
Al Jazeera
Goals from Romain Saiss, Azzedine Ounahi and Youssef En-Nesyri see Morocco cruise past 10-man Tanzania.
Morocco underlined their status as pre-tournament favourites by beating 10-man Tanzania 3-0 to make a winning start to their Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Group F.
The World Cup semifinalists got their campaign under way with an impressive performance at the Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pedro on Wednesday.
Captain Romain Saiss scored a rare goal to put the Atlas Lions ahead at halftime with Azzedine Ounahi and Youssef En-Nesyri adding two more in the space of three second-half minutes to emphasise their dominance, especially after Tanzania had Novatus Miroshi sent off after a second caution.
En-Nesyri had to wait until he was on the substitutes’ bench before celebrating his goal.
En-Nesyri’s celebrations were initially cut short by the offside flag after he scored his team’s third goal in the 80th minute. He had already made way for substitute Amine Harit to go on in his place before a VAR check confirmed he had been onside for Achraf Hakimi’s cross.
