BEVERLY HILLS, February 07, (THEWILL) – North Africans Morocco became the first-ever back-to-back winners of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) when it defeated Mali 2-0 in the final football match of the exclusively domestic-based players Competition in Yaounde, Cameroon on Sunday.
Moroccan defender Soufiane Bouftini opened the scoring in the 69th minute with a header and team captain Ayoub el Kaabi doubled the lead 10 minutes later to ensure the north Africans created history for themselves and their country.
Unfortunately, however, it was the second CHAN final loss for Mali, who will rue their missed chances and opportunities having come so far and so close yet, go home second best.
The winners, on the other hand, were very dominant and won five of their six matches at the tournament. Such was their dominance that in scoring 15 goals, they only conceded three. Their victory brings them equal with the Democratic Republic of Congo as two-time champions at CHAN.
The final was a toss up between Mali and Morocco but the clear favourite to take the day was the North African country. They had shown their worth leading to the final with 12 goals against Uganda, Zambia and hosts Cameroon in their previous three matches alone.
By contrast, Mali had managed just one goal in their last three outings. They eliminated Congo Brazzaville and Guinea via penalty shootouts after goalless quarter-final and semi-final stalemates following extra time.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
