Brahim Diaz continued his excellent form as he helped Morocco secure their spot in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations following a narrow 1–0 victory over Tanzania in Rabat on Sunday.
Diaz scored his fourth goal for Morocco at the Afcon to put the hosts into the last eight.
Ahead of the match, coach Walid Regragui had warned his team to not take the opponents lightly, even though the hosts were the top ranked team at the tournament while Tanzania had squeezed into the knockout stage among the four best third-placed finishers.
As it turned out, Regragui was right. Morocco dominated possession but Tanzania had opportunities too, and it took a fine strike from Diaz to book a meeting with the winners of Sunday’s second fixture between South Africa and Cameroon.
Captain Achraf Hakimi fed Diaz on the right side of the box on 64 minutes and the Real Madrid playmaker worked his way through before firing into the goal from a tight angle.
The hosts thought they had made the early breakthrough midway through the first-half when Ismail Saibari finished from close range in the 24th minute, only for the goal to be ruled out following a VAR review for offside. It was a sign of things to come.
Morocco wasted several other chances but were also fortunate that Tanzania were profligate too, with Simon Msuva and Feisal Salum missing golden opportunities.
Tanzania almost stunned the hosts when Feisal Toto found himself unmarked inside the box in the 56th minute but sent his effort high over the bar.
After the match, Diaz said he was glad to get the job done, although it was far from impressive.
“The competition is growing in intensity and we have just faced our toughest opposition so far against this Tanzanian team," Diaz told the Afcon website.
"Not everything worked, we know that, but fortunately we managed to secure our qualification. Now we will go back to work to be fully ready for the quarter-finals.”
