Morocco easily held South Africa to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday, enough to qualify for the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations while eliminating the South Africans.
In the other Group D match, Nigeria beat Benin 2-1 to join Morocco in the second round.
Morocco, the winner of the group, will now play Algeria in the quarterfinals while Nigeria will face defending champion Cameroon.
Totally against the run of play, South Africa took the lead in the 29th minute.
A cross from Siyabonga Nomvethe drifted harmlessly into the penalty area when Morocco goalkeeper Khalid Fouhami missed the ball. Patrick Mayo quickly got into the act and tapped the ball into the empty net.
”We started with fear in our stomachs,” Morocco coach Badou Zaki said. ”South Africa could have won this match.”
Morocco’s reply came quickly, however. Jaouad Zairi outran Neil Winstanley on a break and the defender needlessly floored the forward in the penalty area in the 38th minute. Youssef Safri converted the equaliser.
The game was the 100th international appearance for Naybet, and apart from the mixup on the goal, he again ran a sterling defence which was rarely troubled by a South Africa looking for a big score to increase its chances of advancing.
”The 100th, 200th or 300th is of no importance to me. I want to win something with my team and that is what counts,” Naybet said.
Morocco only needed a draw to win the group outright while South Africa had to hope Nigeria lost or drew against already eliminated Benin to get through.
South Africa made four changes, including goalkeeper Andre Arendse, as it sought to upset Morocco, but it never came close. It lacked any sense of pressure or thrust throughout the game.
Bafana Banana won the African Cup only eight years ago, and had made the quarterfinals every time since. But a dearth of outstanding talent and poor organisation cost it dearly this time.
After an opening win over newcomer Benin, everything went downhill.
Over the first two games, Morocco proved it had perhaps the best defence of the African Cup, with Deportivo’s Naybet as a standout.
It is the first time in six years Morocco has advanced into the second round.
With Morocco content to rely on the counter, it made for a boring game in front of a disappointing crowd of 8 000 in Sousse’s Olympic Stadium.
The South African defence was quickly under pressure when faced with the speed of forwards Zairi and Youssef Hadji.
After the opener, Morocco’s quickness of feet quickly got it back into the match and the Atlas Lions never looked in trouble again.
In the second half, they dominated and almost went ahead on the hour when Youssef Mokhtari connected on a long looping cross, but sent his volley over.
Five minutes later, Hadji was close to heading home a cross from Zairi.
It took until the 77th minute when substitute Nhleko Nkosinathi tested Fouhami again, but this time the ‘keeper was up to the challenge. Five minutes later Nomvethe tried from too a narrow angle, and his shot just went wide. – Sapa-AP