South Africa pulled off a stunning upset over Morocco in the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations, beating the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists 2-0 in San Pedro on Tuesday night.
The Bafana Bafana scored two goals in the second half through Evidence Makgopa and Teboho Mokoena, while Morocco missed a penalty and had a player sent off in a dramatic encounter.
Morocco, who were among the favourites to win the tournament, started brightly and had a couple of chances to break the deadlock, but were denied by the South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
The game turned in favour of South Africa in the 57th minute, when Makgopa finished off a swift counter-attack with a low shot that beat Bono in the Moroccan goal.
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Morocco were handed a lifeline in the 85th minute, when they were awarded a penalty after Mothobi Mvala handled the ball in the box. However, Achraf Hakimi, who had scored three goals in the group stage, smashed his spot-kick against the crossbar and wasted the opportunity to level the score.
Things went from bad to worse for Morocco in stoppage time, when Sofyan Amrabat received a second yellow card for a foul on Mokoena, who then curled a superb free-kick into the top corner to seal the victory for South Africa.
The result means that South Africa, who are ranked 66th in the world, have reached the quarter-finals of the Afcon for the first time since 2013, where they will face Cape Verde on Saturday. Morocco, meanwhile, have extended their wait for a continental title, having last won it in 1976.
