Express & Star

Morocco beat Ivory Coast to reach Africa Cup of Nations last 16

Herve Renard’s team are in the last-16 of the competition after Friday’s win.

Published

Youssef En-Nesyri scored the only goal as Morocco beat Ivory Coast 1-0 to qualify for the knockout stages at the Africa Cup of Nations.

En-Nesyri scored after 23 minutes as Herve Renard’s side made it successive 1-0 victories in Group D, following their success against Namibia in the opening match.

Romain Saiss made a superb goal-line clearance to deny Jonathan Kodjia in the opening minute before En-Nesyri brilliantly evaded a series of challenges and scored with a low finish.

Max Gradel and Nicolas Pepe worked the Morocco goalkeeper while Kodjia, who scored his side’s winning goal against South Africa, was off target this time.

En-Nesyri went close to a second goal with a header and Noussair Mazraoui also could have made it 2-0 late on but his volley crashed against the crossbar from close range.

Morocco advance while Ivory Coast’s fate will be decided in their final group game against Namibia.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.