Rabat (AFP)
South Africa has become the third country to join the African Nations Cup gold record, following Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, following its team won the title for the first time in its history by defeating the host country of the 14th edition Morocco 2-1 in the final match at Moulay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat. In front of more than 50 thousand spectators.
This is the second continental title for South Africa following the men’s team won the African title in 1996.
The coach of the Banyana Banyana national team, Desiree Ellis, praised the performance of her players, saying following the match, “They scored two great goals, they wanted so badly to win this cup, and they have achieved that now.”
For his part, French coach Renald Pedros said, “We faced a better team than us.”
The Moroccan team dreamed of writing history, following reaching the semi-finals became the first Arab team to qualify for the Women’s World Cup finals, which will be held in its next edition between July 20 and August 20, 2023 in New Zealand and Australia.
South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia qualified for the African continent, while Senegal and Cameroon qualified to participate in the international playoffs.
Many of the Moroccan fans, who accompanied the women’s team throughout the tournament, believe that what the players presented was a “fairy story”, which the host country ended with a consolation award following its player, Ghozlan Al-Shabak, Najla Al-Arabi Al-Shabak, the star of the men’s team in the seventies, won the award for the best player in the tournament. .
Caution prevailed over the course of the first half, as both teams were defensive, with a clear preference for the coach, Desiree Ellis, who won the Best Coach of the African Continent award.
Hilda Majaya opened opportunities for South Africa with a weak ball out of the reach of Moroccan goalkeeper Khadija Al-Ramichi, who was saved by Hanan Ait El Hajj from the goal line, and the Moroccan women, who are supervised by French coach Reynald Pedros, played down the difficulty of building attacks and randomness in passes.
South Africa came close to scoring when Nomvola Kjuwali fired a powerful long-range free kick that hit the crossbar on its way off the field.
Hilda Majaya, a professional in South Korea, was alone, and paid following entering the penalty area, but goalkeeper Al-Rumaishi blocked the ball with her body and feet, then Nisreen Al-Shad removed her.
Tottenham player Rosella Al-Ayyan, who was closely monitored by the South African defenders, scored the first Moroccan chance with a shot to the side of the goal following an individual effort from Fatima Teknout.
Pedros tried to activate the right flank by including Samia Hassani, then lost the efforts of defender Zainab Al-Radwani due to injury, forcing him to replace her with Ghazlan Al-Shahiri.
Banyana Banyana opened the scoring, following an organized attack led by Braga player Jermain Ciobosinoy, and reversing a back ball that the Moroccan defense made a mistake in covering to reach Majaya, who is far from control, and she kicked it powerfully in the net of goalkeeper Al-Rumaichi in the 63rd minute.
Magaya doubled her country’s superiority, following she took advantage of a fatal mistake by Nisreen El Shad to return the ball to the goalkeeper and hit the legitimate goal in the 71st minute.
Layan ignited the enthusiasm of the Moroccan fans with a special follow-up of the ball in the net, following reducing the result following a collective exchange of the ball with substitute Ibtisam Jaradi and Fatima Teknaout in the 80th minute.
The women of Morocco, despite their low physical fitness, tried to equalize the result through the offensive rush of most of the players, and they got a last chance when Yasmine headed the ball to the cleats, but it passed over the goal in the 98th minute.
