Everyone at the Africa Cup of Nations has now played once. We’ve been given a taste of what Morocco 2025 will be like.
While it’s always a bit premature to make sweeping judgments after just one round of games, let’s go ahead and do that now.
Here are some of the big talking points from the first phase.
No bore-draws
For the second consecutive Afcon tournament, there were no ‘boring’ goalless draws in the first phase of the group matches.
Every match produced at least a goal, with Uganda’s 3-1 defeat to Tunisia being the highest-scoring match at the stage, while Ivory Coast and DR Congo’s 1-0 wins over Mozambique and Benin were the least-scoring matches.
The last scoreless draws in phase one were last witnessed in the 2021 edition when Sierra Leone held Algeria, and then Sudan and Equatorial Guinea fired blanks.
Early favourites appeared
The tournament has had no upsets so far, with straightforward wins for all the giants.
However, the most impressive performances came from Senegal, South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia and the champions Ivory Coast.
Despite beating Comoros 2-0 in the opener and being the most pundits’ favourites, Morocco was blunt, especially in the first half, and questions will be asked of them when they face more formidable opponents.
Top-class stadia, playing surface
The Morocco Afcon edition is the first of its kind with nine pitches used across six cities.
From the Prince Abdellah Moulay Abdellah in Rabat to Grande Stade D’Agadir and others, the playing surface is world-class and has attracted praise from almost every national team coach.
The games have gone on under heavy rains but the pitches have remained fully playable.
The stars so far
Riyad Mahrez needs no introduction at this stage, but he has already made his presence felt with a double against Sudan’s Falcons of Jediane.
Tunisia’s Elias Achouri scored a brace against Uganda but it was his overall performance away from the goals and his teammate Hannibal Mejbri was class too.
Brahim Diaz was decent against Comoros, Nicholas Jackson could have had more vs Botswana, while Manchester United man Amad Diallo also announced his arrival on Afcon debut with an outstanding performance against Mozambique.
The bad boys
The 12 matches of phase one produced two red cards – ironically, all from the same Group E.
Equatorial Guinea’s Basilio Ndong became the first culprit when he was red against Burkina Faso and later, Sudan’s Alhassan was sent off for a second bookable offence as his side fell to superior Algeria at the Moulay Hassan stadium.
The Key Statistics
Matches played: 12
Goals scored: 28 goals
Leading scorers: 2 goals – Elias Achouri (vs. Uganda), Riyadh Mahrez (vs. Sudan), Nicholas Jackson (vs. Botswana)
Red Cards 2: Alhassan Saladin (Sudan vs. Algeria), Basilio Ndong (Equatorial Guinea vs. Burkina Faso)