The dream of Morocco picking up a medal at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was shattered with an agonising 2-1 defeat to Croatia in the third place match played on Saturday at Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium.
The Atlas Lions had made history as the first ever team from Africa to make it to the semi final of a World Cup and in the process, took the scalp of footballing giants Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
The African history makers were undone by an early goal from Joško Gvardiol in the seventh minute but two minutes later, Achraf Dari equalised with a header of his own from captain Hakim Ziyech’s free-kick.
The winner came in the 42nd minute, when Mislav Orsic lobbed a curling ball over the Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou with power, clipping the inside of the far post to rebound into the opposite side netting.
Roma manager, Jose Mourinho, has heaped praises on Nigerian forward, Victor Osimhen, after the striker scored a wonder goal which can potentially compete for the goal of the season in the Italian Serie A.
The former Chelsea boss said Osimhen, who is a target of one of his former clubs, Manchester United, can compare favourably with former Ivorian striker, Didier Drogba who terrorised defences in the English Premier League.
However, Mourinho said the only hindrance to the Napoli striker reaching legendary status is if he desists from “diving” to gain favours from referees.
“He is of the same level as Drogba, but Didier didn’t dive,” Mourinho told reporters after the game when asked to access the Super Eagles forward’s performance.
“If Victor changes, then OK. I’d buy him if I was at a club with a lot of money.”
“However, if he does go to England one day, he needs to change, because in Italy they put up with this sort of behaviour, whereas in the Premier League, they’d come down hard on him.”
“I told him that he scored a wonderful goal and needs to stop diving so much. His goal was fantastic, he did the same thing when we met earlier this season, so he’s a fantastic player. But he mustn’t dive,” the Portuguese coach said.
The red hot Osimhen, has scored 14 goals in 16 league matches, propelling Napoli to a healthy 13 point lead at the top of thr Serie A.
It was a night of shocks and history on Saturday at the ongoing African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Algeria when one of the tournament’s favourites, Ghana, was knocked out by outsiders, Niger Republic in a 2-0 defeat which saw the Nigeriens qualify for the semi-finals.
As if the shock was not enough, first-time qualifiers, Madagascar, thumped Mozambique 3-1 to also qualify for the semi-final in some style.
While Madagascar was dealing with Mozambique in Constantine, Niger shocked two-time runners-up, Ghana, in Oran to complete the last-four line-up alongside host, Algeria and Senegal.
Niger’s reward is a date with Algeria while Madagascar will square up against Senegal, both on Tuesday.
Though Algeria and Senegal are outright favourites to win the tournament meant for African footballers playing in their country of birth, pundits believe underating the so called minnows could spell doom as Ghana, Cameroon, DR Congo and other top playing nations found out the hard way.
Madagascar had earlier shocked Ghana and hammered Sudan to win Group C, while Niger had pulled up the shock of the group stages by sending Cameroon packing with a 1-0 victory in their last group D match.