Wednesday's Africa Cup of Nations semifinals were covered head-to-toe in narrative appeal. Senegal-Egypt was the more straightforward of the two, in an increasingly star-dominated landscape: Former Liverpool teammates Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah faced off internationally for the sixth time, and the second time deep in AFCON knockout play (Senegal beat Egypt in the 2022 final, on penalties). On the other side, Nigeria-Morocco had the more immediately intriguing storyline: What happens when the most dominant team of this tournament faces off against the best African team of the past half-decade? The answer, it turned out, was that Morocco, that best African team of the past half-decade, survived a grueling 120-minute stalemate to reach only its third-ever AFCON final, thanks to a 4-2 penalty shootout win.
Entering Wednesday's match, this exact match-up had been the one to circle on the calendar since the start of the knockouts. Nigeria had a roller coaster of a group stage, winning all three matches of its matches with eight goals scored and four against: 2-1 against Tanzania; 3-2 in a wild one against Tunisia, in which Nigeria opened up a 3-0 lead then gave up two late goals to shake the nerves; and 3-1 against Uganda, that time doing a better job seeing out a 3-0 lead. The Super Eagles then steamrolled Mozambique 4-0 in the round of 16, and dispatched Algeria 2-0 in the quarters. Morocco, on the other hand, stumbled in the group stage with a 1-1 draw to Mali, but otherwise took care of Comoros and Zambia by an aggregate 5-0 scoreline. A 1-0 victory over Tanzania led into a 2-0 dispatching of heavyweights Cameroon in the quarters, setting up a semifinal in which neither team had trailed all tournament.
Even if Wednesday's showdown didn't quite live up to its potential, one thing did remain true: Neither team trailed, all the way to penalties. A 0-0 draw decided on spot kicks might be the least satisfying way for such a massive showdown to end, but it wasn't for lack of trying, at least on Morocco's side. Nigeria had been scoring goals for fun this AFCON, so credit to Morocco's defensive gameplan for isolating the Nigerian attackers and blocking them off at all turns. Despite narrowly edging the possession battle, 51-49, Nigeria could only muster two shots all game, with only Ademola Lookman's 14th-minute attempt hitting the target at all. Morocco looked content to force Nigeria's star players—Lookman, Victor Osimhen, and Alex Iwobi—to attempt to dribble their way into strong positions before dispossessing them, and the Atlas Lions did especially well in shutting down Osimhen, who was substituted just before penalties with no shots to his name and no real chances to wreak his usual havoc; he had entered Wednesday's match as the tournament's joint-second-highest scorer, but could not come anywhere near adding to his four-goal tally.
On the other side of the field, Morocco coped much better with the sudden under-performance from its biggest threat of the tournament. Entering the semis, Real Madrid's Brahim Díaz had been unstoppable, scoring in each of Morocco's matches for a tournament-leading five goals. Against Nigeria, though, Díaz was a non-factor, notching just two off-target shots in his failed quest to become the first player in AFCON history to score in six straight matches. His 64 touches were a personal tournament high but didn't lead to much danger, and though he had a couple of chances go narrowly wide, he was substituted in the 107th minute without leaving his mark on the scoreline.
With that in mind, Morocco acquitted itself well through all of its other attacking players, even without midfield standout Azzedine Ounani, who picked up an injury in training and has missed the entire knockout stage. Sixteen shots is quite a haul, and Morocco forced Nigeria's defense into uncomfortable situations up and down the field, especially down the left flank, where the duo of Abde Ezzalzouli and Noussair Mazraoui had the Super Eagles in hell. Ezzalzouli had two of the best chances in the game, but his pair of second-half curlers lacked the power to find the net. Hamza Igamane, who substituted in for Ezzalzouli in the 84th minute and immediately became the most dangerous player on the field, kept that pressure up into extra time.
Even with all that firepower, Morocco's powder was left as dry as Nigeria's, and off to penalties this went. While penalties may not always go the way of the more deserving team, they are an infallible source of drama, and these were no different. After Neil El Aynaoui and Paul Onuachu traded successful kicks, Nigerian goalie Stanley Nwabali's fingertips kept out Hamza Igamane's effort. With a chance to hand his country the lead and control in the shootout, Samuel Chukwueze shot softly to Moroccan goalie Yassine "Bono" Bounou's right, an easy save at any level. The two countries traded conversions next, and Achraf Hakimi, Morocco's most renowned player, converted his for a 3-2 lead.
That set the stage for one of the weirder penalty saves I've ever seen: Bono stutter stepped his way practically all the way to his goal's left post as Bruno Onyemaechi went to shoot, and the Olympiacos winner seemed to adjust his kick to put it down the middle. He didn't get enough correction on his kick tho, putting it just outside of Bono's body, and the goalie, already a Moroccan hero for his exploits in the 2022 World Cup, was able to stick his trailing right hand out for the save. One Youssef En-Nesyri score later, and Morocco was on its way to the final:
In the end, the more deserving team did end up winning, and now Morocco has a chance to put a bow on its most successful period of soccer excellence, and maybe the best cycle Africa has ever seen. While the 2023 AFCON didn't go the country's way—it went out in the round of 16 to eventual third-place finisher South Africa—the magical run to the 2022 World Cup semifinals, the deepest run by an African team in history and one that ended in respectable fashion with a 2-0 loss to France, plopped the Atlas Lions into the spotlight. If Morocco loses on Sunday, it won't dampen the hopes of a repeat performance this summer, but if it lifts the trophy, then the legacy of this team will be solidified, no matter what comes next.
Speaking of Sunday, Morocco will be facing off against Senegal, who won that Liverpool-tinged showdown 1-0 in a slog of a match, capped off by, who else, Sadio Mané scoring the rug-burning winner in the 78th minute. If Morocco and Nigeria were the big-dogs entering the final four, Senegal was a close third, thanks to a balanced attack that has seen four players score two goals en route to the final. Senegal also has recent history on its side; while Morocco's last final was in 2004, Senegal won the tournament just four years ago, and finished runners-up in 2019. If Wednesday's matches are any indication, the final should be another slugfest, but both of these teams have the potential and talent to turn it into a fireworks show. Based on how they each played on Wednesday, I'd lean towards Morocco capping off its run before this summer's World Cup. Hosting just its second AFCON, hosts are 90 minutes (and perhaps 30 more) away from glory on home soil, one more match to solidify what is already clear: Morocco is Africa's best team, peaking at the right time for a busy 2026.
