Morocco beats Comoros to seal knockout place
Morocco is through to the Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16 after goals from Selim Amallah and Zakaria Aboukhlal secured a 2-0 win over Comoros on Saturday (AEDT).
Amallah opened the scoring in the first half at Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium and Aboukhlal added a second late on as the Atlas Lions made it two Group C wins out of two after a 1-0 victory over Ghana in their opening game, sealing a spot in the knockout stages.
Standard Liege midfielder Amallah showed great composure in the penalty area as he latched on to a loose ball after Ayoub El Kaabi's shot was blocked, before finishing with his right foot after 16 minutes.
Nayef Aguerd almost doubled Morocco's lead before the break when he met Sofiane Boufal's corner with a towering header, but rattled the crossbar.
Amallah shot wastefully wide after a terrible pass from goalkeeper Salim Ben Boina, who was in the thick of the action as he bundled Zakaria Aboukhlal over in the box, but saved the resulting penalty from Youssef En-Nesyri with seven minutes to go.
Ben Boina continued to keep a dominant Morocco at bay until Aboukhlal sidefooted home in the 89th minute, the video assistant referee (VAR) awarding the goal after he was initially ruled to be offside, as Comoros suffered a second defeat that leaves the AFCON debutant bottom of the group.
