El Khannouss helps hosts reach semis, Jackson an unused sub

Morocco and Senegal made it into the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations.

Hosts Morocco and the 2021 champions Senegal are through to the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations after beating Cameroon and Mali, respectively. The two teams will wait for tomorrow’s games to discover their opponents in the last four.

Nicolas Jackson was surprisingly an unused sub in Senegal’s narrow win over Mali. RB Leipzig’s former midfielder Amadou Haidara was back in Mali’s starting lineup after a one-game suspension, but Tom Saintfiet’s side was reduced to ten men for the third game in a row with a second booking for Yves Bissouma on the stroke of half-time.

Senegal’s solitary strike came before the red card as Everton’s winger Iliman Ndiaye scored his first goal of the tournament. The Lions of Teranga will face either Egypt or the defending champions Côte d’Ivoire in the semi-final.

In the other bracket, the winners of the clash between Algeria and Nigeria will meet Morocco. Cameroon had a great history of upsetting host nations at AFCON, but Walid Regragui’s team restricted Christian Kofane and co. to only shots off target.

Brahim Diaz scored for the fifth game running before Ismael Saibari’s second-half goal sealed the win as Morocco maintained their record of not conceding a non-penalty goal. Stuttgart’s Bilal El Khannouss played for 68 minutes, while Kofane’s Leverkusen teammate Eliesse Ben Saghir was an unused substitute once again.