The Egyptian team succeeded in overcoming Côte d’Ivoire’s obstacle with penalty kicks 5-4 after the end of the original and extra time in a goalless draw, while Morocco managed to pass Malawi with two goals to one goal.
The last confrontation between the Pharaohs and the Atlas Lions dates back to the quarter-finals of the Nations Cup in Gabon 2017, which ended with the victory of the Egyptian team with a clean goal by Mahmoud Kahraba.
The Moroccan national team is ranked 28th in the world according to the FIFA classification issued in December 2021, at the forefront of the Arab teams, and the second place in Africa, while the Pharaohs are in the 45th place, sixth in Africa and fourth in the Arab world.
African qualifying road
The Egyptian team topped its group in the Nations Cup qualifiers with 12 points, in the group that included Comoros, Guinea and Togo, and the Pharaohs scored 10 goals, while conceding 3 goals.
As for the Moroccan team, it topped its group that included Mauritania, Burundi and Central Africa, during which they scored 10 goals and received one goal.
During the group stage, the Moroccan team succeeded in winning two matches against Comoros and Ghana, drawing one against Gabon, then winning against Malawi in the final price, where the Atlas Lions scored 7 goals and conceded 3 goals.
The strengths of the Moroccan national team
The Moroccan team has a number of strengths, as it includes among its ranks a number of distinguished European players, most notably Yassine Bounou, Youssef Al-Nusairi, goalkeeper and striker of Seville, Achraf Hakimi, right-back of Paris Saint-Germain, and Roman Sais, defender of Wolverhampton, England.
strong offensive line
The Moroccan team comes as the second strongest attacking line in the tournament so far, scoring seven goals, behind Cameroon, the owner of the land, with 9 goals.
set pieces
The second strikes are one of the most prominent weapons of the Moroccan team, which managed to score two of the seven goals from two free kicks, executed by Achraf Hakimi, the right back of Paris Saint-Germain, to perfect the ball into the net during the confrontations of Gabon and Malawi.
ability to return
One of the most prominent positive points in the Moroccan team is the possibility of returning after being late, as the Moroccan team was late in the result by two games against Malawi with a clean goal before winning a double to qualify for the quarter-finals, while it was late twice against Gabon to leave the match with a tied 2-2 and guarantee the top of the group.
Acquisition and opportunity creation
The Moroccan team relies on possession, as the Moroccan team did not come out of any confrontation except the most possessive, as the Atlas Lions players possessed the ball with rates ranging from 59 percent in the lowest matches against Gabon, to 75 percent as the highest possession rate against Malawi.
The Moroccan team also creates a large number of chances at a rate of 18.2 on goal per match, including 6.25 chances per match between the post and the crossbar, which is a large rate in the tournament.
Weak points
The Moroccan team is also the second weakest line of defense among the eight teams in the quarter-finals, as it conceded 3 goals, behind Cameroon and Burkina Faso, who conceded 4 goals.
The goals received by the Atlas Lions varied from a shot from outside the penalty area, and in the Gabon match, two goals were scored, and the other from a cross inside the penalty area, which the Gabon player turned into the goal.
Twice the competitors
The Moroccan team did not face major teams, even the Ghanaian team, which is theoretically the strongest team that Morocco is supposed to have faced, and bid farewell to the tournament from the first round by bottoming out its group without winning.
The Gabon team is the strongest opponent Morocco has faced, and it is the least match for the Atlas Lions in creating chances on goal, as Morocco threatened the Gabon goal less than the opponent in that match by two chances.
Egypt’s journey to the championship
The Egyptian team lost the opening match against Nigeria with a goal, before winning against Sudan and Guinea Bissau with a clean goal in the two matches, to finish second in its group, before overcoming the obstacle of Côte d’Ivoire on penalties after the end of the original and extra time in a goalless draw.
The Egyptian team includes among its ranks a number of professional stars in Europe, most notably Mohamed Salah, the third best player in the world and top scorer in the English Premier League, as well as Mohamed Elneny, Arsenal midfielder, Omar Marmoush, Stuttgart striker, Mahmoud Trezeguet, Aston Villa player, and Ahmed Hegazy, defender of the Saudi Jeddah Federation. .
The team also includes Al-Ahly club stars Amr Al-Sulayya, Hamdi Fathi, and Mohamed Sherif, the top scorer in the Egyptian League, who were crowned with the Red Genie in two consecutive championships of the African Champions League and the African Super.
defense force
The Egyptian team, in 4 confrontations, conceded only one goal against Nigeria, to be the second strongest line of defense among the teams qualified for the quarter-finals after Senegal, who did not conceded any goal.
performance evolution
The performance of the Egyptian team turned positively against Côte d’Ivoire in the final price, despite the great attack against Carlos Queiroz, coach of the Pharaohs, and the players, but they won great praise and praise after overcoming the obstacle of the elephants, and performing a different performance from his counterpart who appeared in the group stage.
The Egyptian team, after losing Nigeria’s first match and creating only 4 chances on goal compared to 15 balls for the Eagles, differed completely against Cote d’Ivoire and created 21 chances against 13 chances for the elephants.
knot breaking
The Egyptian team broke the knot of not winning against Morocco in the 2017 Gabon Championship, after winning the Kahraba goal, so that the Pharaohs broke the series of lack of victory against the Atlas Lions after an absence of 31 years.
Weak points
The Egyptian team received a big blow in the first match against Nigeria, when Akram Tawfik injured his cruciate ligament, before losing Mahmoud Hamdi Al-Wensh during the confrontation with Guinea-Bissau, then he received two other blows against Côte d’Ivoire, with Mohamed El-Shennawy suffering from a strain in the hamstring muscle, and Hamdi Fathi with stress in the connective muscle.
Offensive ineffectiveness
Although the Egyptian team created 55 chances on goal, including only 15 between the post and the crossbar, but he could only score two goals, the first for Salah, and the second for Mohamed Abdel Moneim, the team’s defender.