Afcon: Morocco, Comoros clash as month-long extravaganza starts
Morocco's defender #2 Achraf Hakimi (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's first goal during the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) 2024 group F football match between Morocco and DR Congo at Stade Laurent Pokou in San Pedro on January 21, 2024.
MOROCCO
All but one of the 34 previous opening matches of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals has featured the host nation, and history strongly favours teams playing on home soil.
The opening ceremony of the 35th edition of the tournament will take place from 4pm (Kenyan time), at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, officially launching Africa’s most prestigious football tournament.
Tonight’s match will be the second clash between Morocco and Comoros at the continental finals. Morocco are ranked 11th in the world, the highest-ranked African nation, while Comoros are ranked 108th.
The sides have met four times previously, with Morocco winning three matches and one ending in a draw. Morocco are beginning their 20th Afcon finals appearance and their fifth in a row, a run that began in 2017.
Comoros are appearing for only the second time, having made their tournament debut at the 2021 edition in Cameroon. As Morocco prepare to face Comoros in the opening match of the tournament at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium today, they will draw confidence from a long-standing trend that has seen host nations dominate the curtain-raiser of Africa’s flagship tournament.
Since the inaugural edition in 1957, there have been 19 opening-match victories for host nations, with only five hosts suffering defeat and nine matches ending in draws. The lone exception to the tradition of hosts featuring in the opening game came in 1970, when Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire kicked off the tournament in Sudan.
The first-ever Afcon opener ended in disappointment for the hosts as Sudan lost 2–1 to Egypt in Khartoum in 1957, when only three teams participated. It would take almost three decades before another host suffered defeat in the opening match.
Defeating Cameroon
That shock came in Cairo in 1986, when Senegal edged hosts Egypt 1–0. Despite the setback, the Pharaohs recovered strongly and went on to lift the trophy, defeating Cameroon on penalties in the final. Hosts Senegal suffered a similar fate in 1992, losing 2–1 to Nigeria in Dakar, while Tunisia’s 1994 campaign unravelled almost immediately after a 2–0 opening defeat to Mali at the El Menzah Stadium — a result that led to the dismissal of coach Youssef Zouaoui.
Burkina Faso were the most recent hosts to lose their opening match, falling 1–0 to Cameroon in Ouagadougou in 1998. However, they exceeded expectations by reaching the semi-finals and ultimately reflected on the tournament with pride.
The most emphatic opening-day victory remains Algeria’s 5–1 demolition of Nigeria in Algiers in 1990. The two teams met again in the final, with Algeria edging the Super Eagles by a single goal to claim the title.
Other memorable home wins include Tunisia’s 4–0 rout of Ethiopia in 1965, Côte d’Ivoire’s 3–0 victory over Togo in their opening match as hosts, and South Africa’s commanding 3–0 win over Cameroon that set them on the path to lifting the trophy in 1996.
The most dramatic AFCON opener came in 2010, when Angola surrendered a four-goal lead in the final 11 minutes as Mali staged a remarkable comeback to draw 4–4 in Luanda. When Morocco last hosted the tournament in 1988, they let a first-half lead slip as Zaire — now DR Congo — equalised three minutes from time. It proved an ominous sign, as the hosts failed to reach the final.
This time, Morocco will be determined to make a stronger statement as they look to begin the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations with a convincing victory over Comoros.
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