The Arab Cup.. An early final between Morocco and Algeria and expectations of a taste of world football
The second day of the Arab Cup quarter-finals in football in the Qatari capital, on Saturday, witnessed a fiery confrontation between the two poles of Maghreb football, the Moroccan team and its Algerian counterpart, while expectations indicate that the audience is on a date with a taste of world football.
Morocco had started strongly in the Arab Cup, winning by two clean fours over Palestine and Jordan, while it overtook Saudi Arabia with a clean goal to qualify at the top of its third group with the full score.
For its part, Algeria qualified again from Group D, with a fair play difference from Egypt, after a draw on points (7) and goal difference (7), as Algeria beat Sudan 4-0, and Lebanon 2-0, before drawing with Egypt 1-1.
Moroccan coach Al-Hussein Ammouta relies on several strengths, most notably Abdelilah Al-Hafidhi, who grabbed the spotlight in the group stage, and who will face a strong confrontation with the captain of the Algerian national team, Yassine Brahimi.
Many observers say that the winner of this match will inevitably be in the final, and perhaps a champion of the Arab Cup, as the two teams showed their fangs from the beginning and established themselves as strong candidates for the title.
Prior to the quarter-final summit, the "Atlas Lions" had previously met with the "Desert Warriors" in 2019 in the qualifiers for the African Championship for local players. At that time, they tied 0-0 in the first leg, before the Moroccan settled matters in his favour, by three clean goals in the second leg.
Morocco also excels in its last confrontations with Algeria in all official matches, starting with the 1986 African Nations Cup in Egypt, which ended in a draw, and in 1988 with the victory of the Atlas Lions with a goal for free.
They also faced each other in the second round of the African Nations Cup in Tunisia 2004, where Morocco won 3-1, before Morocco renewed its victory with a clean four in the year 2012 during the qualifiers for the same tournament, after it had lost 1-0 in the first leg.
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