While the first Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) semi-final was littered with chances and incident, the late game in the capital was a far tighter affair.
Morocco created little to reflect their dominance of the ball against an organised and disciplined Cameroon side who grew in confidence in the latter stages of the second half.
The Atlas Lionesses came close to an opener in the 14th minute when Sanaa Mssoudy diverted Hanane Ait El Haj’s right-wing cross against the right-hand upright, and the forward also thrashed into the side-netting on the hour mark.
A flurry of late chances came at the end of regulation time, with Imane Saoud shooting straight at Bihina, Mssoudy heading wide and Michaela Abam firing over the Morocco bar.
Abam then had a shot blocked towards the end of the first period of extra time and Morocco defender Atiq headed over in the second half.
The match’s key incident came right at the end of extra time when Morocco were presented with a glorious chance to win the tie following a video assistant referee (VAR) review, with Togolese official Vincentia Amedome deciding Nyadjou had caught Ouzraoui in the face with her arm.
Ait El Haj had converted from the spot in the quarter-final win over South Africa but substitute Tagnaout assumed responsibilities and the winger’s tame left-footed effort was palmed away by Bihina.
There was more to come from the Cameroon keeper, who plays in her homeland for Benfica and had previously made a remarkable nine stops in her side’s quarter-final upset against 10-time champions Nigeria.
Chapelle put her effort too close to Bihina but two stunning stops followed to deny Atiq and Ouzraoui.
Khadija Er-Rmichi had kept her side in the shootout by saving an effort from Grace Mendoua, but the Morocco keeper had little answer to Bihina’s heroics.
A semi-final defeat comes as a big blow to Morocco, who have invested heavily in football in recent years and hired Spain’s Women’s World Cup winning manager Jorge Vilda in an attempt to claim a maiden continental crown.
The Atlas Lionesses were runners-up in 2022 and reached the final of the delayed 2024 Wafcon last July, but threw away a 2-0 half-time lead against Nigeria and were forced to settle for second place again.
Cameroon, meanwhile, return to the final for the first time since losing to Nigeria as tournament hosts in 2016.
The Indomitable Lionesses have lost three previous finals and coach Valentine Nguele, who only took charge in June, will need to nullify the threat of the Chawinga sisters Tabitha and Temwa when her side come up against Malawi on Sunday.
Whoever comes out on top, it will be a new name on the trophy.
On Thursday Ivory Coast take on Ghana (17:00 GMT) and Nigeria meet South Africa (20:00 GMT) in African play-offs for the chance to go into an inter-continental qualifier for the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
Leave a Reply