South Africa
secured progress
to the quarter-
finals of the 2013
Africa Cup of
Nations with a 2-2 draw against
Morocco in
Durban. The Moroccans made six changes to their
starting line-up, choosing to use
pace to attack the South
Africans, as they were desperate
for a win to progress ahead of
the hosts. If Bafana were over-confident
after their Angola win, the early
running by Morocco would have
reminded them that they still had
it all to do to progress to the
quarter-finals. In the first five minutes South Africa were beaten
for pace on a number of
occasions. Early on El Arabi broke
through ahead of Khune from a
lifted ball. The Bafana keeper did
seem a little slow to come forward at times. To his credit
Khune usually bats the ball away,
and did the same successfully in
that instance. Rantie gave the visitors some of
their own medicine when he beat
them for pace down the right. It
seemed that Ahmed Kantari might
have pulled his hand before
falling, but the referee Gassama waved away the protest. The
South African striker, who
managed to pass his fitness test
before the game, probably did fall
too easily. A minute later Khune missed a
swerving corner kick, failing to
dominate his area, the tallIssam El Adouarose to head home an easy opener for Morocco. From
the replay it was not clear
whether Khune or El Adoua had
the last touch before the ball
dropped in off the crossbar. Literally another minute later, at
the other end Thuso Phala was
brought down in the penalty
area. There was contact but
again the South Africans were
falling too easily. With the home side looking to move forward
Morocco were not resting on
their lead, and came close to
adding a second. First, El Arabi
saw his shot take a deflection
that was well saved by Khune for a corner. The resulting set piece
again troubled the South Africans
as the goalscorer El Adoua won
the header, but directed it
slightly to the left of the post. Bafana were relieved to survive
the period of pressure, having
one eye on the Cape Verde
versus Angola game, as they
would still progress if Cape Verde
did not win. However, they were not relying on anyone, responding
well with a number of spirited
attacks before the half hour. Just before the break, Morocco
caught the defence out, playing
through Chafni who was clean
through with acres of space, but
this time Khune came off his line
early enough to stop him in his stride outside the box. The away team also started
brighter in the second half, using
their speed down the right.
Barrada took the best shot of
the game so far, unleashing a
fizzing strike from distance which Khune did well to keep track of
and gather without trouble. After 50 minutes, Igesund
introduced his ace in the pack,
the attacking midfielder Thulani
Serero to make things happen,
but striker Katlego Mphela had to
make way. Immediately after that change Bafana showed what they
were capable of in attack, with a
wonderful free kick from Phala
acrobatically saved by
keeper Nadir Lamyaghri. Phala
was again in the thick of the action, weaving his way down the
right but the Moroccan defence
stood strong.