AFCON 2025: Stalemate In Marrakech

The points had to shared equally at the Stade de Marrakech between Angola and Zimbabwe in their second group game at the ongoing AFCON 2025 tournament in Morocco, group B as both teams lost their first game, hence came into this encounter highly in need of a win, especially for the Palancras Negras.

More Details

Following an unbeaten qualifying campaign, Angola fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of South Africa in their opening match of the group, just like Zimbabwe were beaten by Egypt by the same scoreline and for either them, they needed to show that they deserved to remain in the tournament.

LATEST POSTS

So heading into the game, a win seemed like it was a necessity for the two teams if they had any hopes of progressing, and the Red Devils started the game well, dominating the opening stages, just as was expected as they’re the better side on paper before kick-off.

They first went close after 14 minutes when Gelson Dala weaved his way through a couple of defenders before firing goalwards, but his effort went straight down the middle of the goal seeing it saved by Washington Arubi with the best chance of the half came from a corner just two minutes later.

Still, the keeper, Arubi pulled off a phenomenal save to deny Jonathan Buatu’s header, plucking it away from the top-left corner but Zimbabwe’s resolve was broken midway through the half, with Dala firing into the near bottom-left corner from the edge of the six-yard box after a precise cross from Tó Carneiro.

The Brave Warriors applied pressure as they searched for an equaliser and found it in the sixth minute of added time, after Knowledge Musona drilled a strike across goal to find the bottom-left corner and the scores remained the same until the referee halted play for the half time break.

The start started like the first half with Angola being the better side as they were close to finding the net inside the opening five minutes, as Buatu went close again, but he was denied from close-range again, as his left-footed shot was saved by again by the keeper.

After that, it was the Brave Warriors who had the best opportunity to take the lead though, when they nearly took the lead with just over an hour played, but Ishmael Wadi was unable to get the better of Hugo Marques who got down well to keep his strike across goal out of the bottom-left corner.

Zimbabwe continued to grow into the game and almost got in front as the game approached the final 10 minutes, but Marques was on hand to pull off a fantastic save to prevent Tawanda Chirewa from finding the top-right corner from the edge of the box.

In the end, neither team were able to find a winner, meaning Angola now face what seems like an impossible task of trying to advance to the knockout stage with their third and final group game against seven-time AFCON winners Egypt next up for them.

Read Also: “This Draw Didn’t Go Badly At All But Quite The Opposite”

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe will also have to defeat South Africa in their final group game if they wish to progress but much will also depend on the second game in the group as Egypt and South Africa will face off against each other later today and the title of group leader cold be determined in this encounter.

Do you have a story tip?
Kindly Email: keepup@bettitude.com

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube

Bookmark (0)

Please login to bookmark