It is the right final, Walid Regragui, Morocco’s head coach insists. The logical showdown, the rational meeting of best and next-best. His rising powerhouse and Senegal are simply “the top two teams in Africa from the last three years”.
A week or so ago, you might have heard a stronger argument against that claim from, say, Ivory Coast. But then the Ivorians were deposed as the continent’s reigning champions two rounds ahead of Sunday's Africa Cup of Nations final (11pm kick off, UAE).
The Ivorians’ conquerors, Egypt, might wish to point out that, having reached two Afcon finals out of the last five, plus their all-time record seven titles gives them special status. But Mohamed Salah’s Pharaohs were clearly second-best to Senegal in last Wednesday’s semi.
Nigeria pushed hard – and had scored more goals than any other at the 35th Afcon – to put themselves in contention for the gold or at least the same silver medal they collected two years ago in the final Abidjan. But valiant though Nigeria were, Morocco proved cooler in the penalty shoot-out that went in favour of the host nation at the end of their goalless semi.
Besides, if you apply Regragui’s criteria for consistent achievement over the last 36 months or so, it would be hard to elevate the Super Eagles to the very summit of Africa’s current hierarchy. Nigeria will not be at the World Cup next summer, having fallen short of being among the large, nine-strong contingent of African qualifiers.
Morocco will be in the Americas. So will Senegal, African champions in 2022, also bound for their third successive World Cup. On Sunday at the Moulay Abdellah stadium they will be lining up for a third final in the space of four Afcons.
They are in a feisty mood, too, to judge from the statement their Football Federation released early on Saturday. It detailed what the Senegalese governing body alleged are the hosts’ “constant organisational shortcomings in the build-up to the final”.
They claimed their players had been offered inadequate security on arrival in the Moroccan capital; that they had been allocated a substandard hotel; and Senegal would refuse to use the state-of-the-art Mohammed VI centre for prematch training because the Morocco squad were based at the same site, a proximity that compromised the “sporting integrity” of the final.
“It is the image of Africa that’s at stake,” said Pape Thiaw, the Senegal head coach, who nonetheless praised the organisation of the tournament up until his squad’s last 48 hours ahead of the final.
He described how his players had been jostled by crowds as they arrived in Rabat. “What happened on Friday was not normal. My players were put in danger. They shouldn’t be in that situation, especially when we are talking about two countries that are brothers.”
Thiaw acknowledged that “it’s not easy facing a host team” but urged his compatriots to focus on “the 11 against 11”. The line-up he selects might not be quite his ideal starting XI, though, given the injury – and indeed suspension – that rules out his captain Kalidou Koulibaly and the one-match ban, because of accumulated bookings, that deprives him of midfielder Habib Diarra.
But Senegal have strength in depth and a habit of cool responses to setback. Twice they have fallen behind in the journey through this Afcon and in each case, at 1-0 down to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the group phase, and trailing to Sudan six minutes into their last-16 tie, they answered back with authority.
Sadio Mane equalised within seven minutes to secure the 1-1 draw with the Congolese, Pape Gueye struck twice before half-time to see off Sudan. Mane would later settle the taut, tense semi-final with Egypt with a terrific strike with 12 minutes remaining.
They can handle a hostile crowd, too, promised Thiaw. “We know how to manage this sort of game. We played recently in Kinshasa.” A fervent crowd there, for a World Cup qualifier last September where Senegal and DR Congo were battling to lead their group, witnessed a remarkable recovery. The home team led 2-0 after barely half an hour. Senegal came back to win 3-2.
“I have mature players, who know how to manage their emotions, and play with clarity,” said the coach, who has a core of experienced men in Mane, Idrissa Gana Gueye and goalkeeper Edu Mendy around whom he freely rotates his cohort of talented younger players.
Those who have impressed at their first Cup of Nations include 21-year-old El Hadj Malick Diouf, excellent defensively up against Salah and zipping forward from left back; Mamadou Sarr, 20, the replacement for Koulibaly at centre-back for most of the semi-final; and Ibrahim Mbaye, the 17-year-old forward who has made impactful appearances as a substitute.
Yet to inflict lasting damage on Morocco will be to go where few opponents have in the last two years. Regragui is on a 26-match run without defeat.
During that run, he has fashioned a more potent forward line around Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz, who made his Morocco debut in 2024 and has five goals from six games at the tournament, and a more forceful midfield anchored by Roma’s Neil El Aynaoui, another relatively new addition to the Regragui plan and much more than sufficient cover for the injured Azzedine Ounahi.
“The way we play is energy-intensive,” said Regragui. “But I have more players to rely on than I did at the last World Cup.” At that tournament, in Qatar, his team set a benchmark, reaching the last four.
And there are more coming through, too. The autumn triumph at the under-20 World Cup of Morocco’s next generation proved that.
Before the best of that junior cohort are ushered in at senior level, a half-century of Afcon hurt needs to be soothed by the current Atlas Lions, and a new hierarchy in Africa confirmed.
“These teams have never been in a final together before,” noted Regragui, relishing the fresh look of a Morocco-Senegal final, but recognising that the novelty about it is Morocco’s presence.
Their heavy historic burden is a wretched, exasperating record in the continent’s premier sporting event: a mere one Afcon title – and that came way back in 1976. No Morocco men’s team have even reached a final for 22 years.
That long wait looks all the stranger when you consider what proud ambassadors Morocco have been for Africa and for the Arab world at World Cups, from 1970, when they achieved the continent’s first point at a finals, through 1986, when they reached the knockout phase, to, most famously, 2022 and the journey past Belgium, Spain and Portugal to a semi-final.
“We’ve become a winning team for a while now,” said Regragui. “We don’t want to miss out on this next step. And we really want to make our people happy.”
