Morocco beat Gabon with a brace: a fiery start for the Atlas Lions in the African qualifiers

A deserved win

Morocco opened their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a deserved 2-0 win over Gabon. The Atlas Lions bossed long spells of the game before a late second goal sealed a perfect start to the qualifiers.

From the outset Morocco controlled the tempo, dominating possession and pressing forward, with Azzedine Ounahi one of the chief threats. He wasted more than one opening in the early exchanges before rattling the crossbar in the 27th minute.

The pressure paid off in the 36th minute when Noussair Mazraoui cracked the Gabonese defence. He burst into a dangerous position, shook off his marker and lashed a fierce strike from outside the box that nestled in Amonome's net to give his side the lead.

Morocco almost doubled their advantage before the break. Abdessamad Ezzalzouli picked out El Aynaoui with a precise cross, but the midfielder failed to make it count, and the half ended with the Atlas Lions ahead 1-0.

After the restart, Morocco kept threatening the Gabon goal. Amonome pulled off a fine save to deny a powerful Nayef Aguerd effort as his team-mates hunted a second.

Gabon, though, grew into the contest as the clock ticked down. Bouanga in particular tormented the Moroccan defence, a constant source of trouble.

Yassine Bounou stood firm, repelling two dangerous Bouanga attempts in the 57th and 77th minutes to protect the lead. Then, in the 84th minute, Morocco landed the final blow.

Soufiane Rahimi grabbed the second, pouncing on a precise cross from Bilal El Khannouss to bury the ball and wrap up all three points for Morocco.