In the early morning of January 26, Beijing time, the African Cup of Nations 1/8 finals entered the third match day, and today the upper and lower halves each completed a match, and the two winning teams may become the hegemons of the upper and lower halves, and finally meet the final. Senegal won in the first half, with Senegal beating Cape Verde 2-0, while morocco in the lower half won and Morocco with Ashraf beating Malawi 2-1.
Morocco's performance seems to be more champions, in the group stage has been 1-0 defeat africa cup 4 champions ghana, 2-0 defeat comoros, 2-2 playing gabon, this battle of the African Cup of Nations 1/8 final, Morocco continues to show the strongest lineup, en-nesri, Kaebi, Ashraf and other people led the start of 11 people, the starting lineup is worth up to 180 million euros, Malawi starter 11 people are only 2 million euros, the gap between the two sides is huge.
In the game, Morocco was caught off guard, Malawi kicked out of the blue, in the 6th minute of the game, Mhango received a diagonal pass from John Banda, facing the defender's close defense, Mhango directly from 40 meters away from the goal to blast out of the world wave, the ball hung straight in the upper right corner of the goal, Malawi unexpectedly took a 1-0 lead.
Morocco, who were one goal behind, quickly took control of the pace of the game, with top right-back Ashraf frequently making risks. In the 27th minute of the match, Ashraf's free-kick was directly on goal and was deflected by the goalkeeper; in the 41st minute of the game, Ashraf's push was saved by the goalkeeper and hit the upright; in the 45th+2nd minute of the game, Amara launched an attack from the left side of the front and directly crossed to find Ennesri in the penalty area, who jumped high to head the goal and Morocco to tie the score 1-1.
In the 69th minute of the game, Morocco once again won a good free kick opportunity, Ashraf again took the penalty, he directly out of the world wave, the ball directly hung in the upper right corner of the goal, the goalkeeper whip was out of reach, Morocco defeated Malawi 2-1.
As the current world no. 28 and Africa no. 2 strong team, Morocco had 73% of the ball in the whole game, 25-4 with Malawi's shot on goal, 10-2 shooting contrast, and finally beat Malawi in a thrilling 2-1 reversal. Ashraf has undoubtedly become the MVP of the game, scoring the highest match rating of the game, 8.5 points, and with his excellent free kick footwork, the MVP defender has set a miracle for 14 years, he has scored two consecutive free kicks in the world wave, becoming the first player since 2008 to score two free kicks in a single African Cup of Nations, and the 2008 Cameroon international Gremi also scored two free kicks directly at the African Cup of Nations at that time.
After the match, Ashraf received praise from his club teammates, and the young world champion Mbappe directly praised Ashraf as the world's best right-back, and Mbappe wrote directly on social platforms: "Ashraf Hakimi, the world's best right-back." Good night, friends. After the win, Morocco will face the winner between Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt in the quarter-finals, and the quarter-final between Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt will take place in the early hours of Beijing time tomorrow morning.