Brahim Díaz scored his fourth goal for Morocco at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to put the hosts into the quarter-finals with a nervous 1-0 victory over Tanzania in Rabat.
Morocco dominated possession but Tanzania had opportunities to cause a huge shock, and it took a fine strike from Brahim to book a place in the last eight.
The Morocco captain, Achraf Hakimi, fed Brahim on the right side of the box on 64 minutes and the Real Madrid winger worked his way to the byline, before firing into the goal from a tight angle when most expected a cross.
Walid Regragui’s side spurned several other chances but were fortunate that Tanzania were wasteful too, with Simon Msuva and Feisal Salum missing gilt-edged opportunities for the east Africans, who qualified for the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed sides despite failing to win any of their group games.
It was a far from vintage performance from the home side, who have yet to click into top gear at the tournament but did enough to keep their campaign on track. “The competition is hotting up and we faced our toughest opponent in this Tanzania team,” Brahim said.
“Not everything worked, we know that, but fortunately we managed to secure our qualification [to the next round],” Brahim, who is now the tournament’s top scorer, added. “Now, we are going back to work to be fully ready for the quarter-finals.”
Tanzania had an excellent early opportunity when Msuva had an open goal to head into, but he could only steer his effort well wide. Morocco then had the ball in the back of the net from Ismael Saibari’s header, but he was narrowly offside. Ayoub El Kaabi then missed two chances to score as the hosts grew frustrated.
The underdogs should have been ahead on 55 minutes as the Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou could only parry a long-range shot and the ball fell to Salum, who blasted over the crossbar from 10 metres with the goal gaping. Hakimi then crashed a free-kick against the frame of the goal, before Brahim finally made the breakthrough.
Cameroon await in the quarter-finals having scored a goal in either half to see off South Africa 2-1. The five-time winners proved too strong as they kept on course for Afcon success to make up for their failure to qualify for this year’s World Cup in North America.
Goals from Junior Tchamadeu and the teenage striker Christian Kofane ensured victory for the Indomitable Lions, although they had to fight off a late comeback as South Africa pulled one back through the substitute Evidence Makgopa with two minutes to play.
