CAPE TOWN — Zimbabwe and Morocco played to a goalless stalemate in the opening game of their Group B Caf African Nations Championships finals at Athlone Stadium yesterday.
It was not the best of displays from either team as neither were able to fashion decent scoring opportunities.
Instead, it was a rather scrappy affair characterised by some wasteful passing in the final third of the field.
Neither team looked promising in attack as they squandered possession rather cheaply.
Chances on goal were a rare thing as most of the game was concentrated in the middle of the park.
In the eighth minute Issam Erraki fired a 25-yard set-piece into the defensive wall and was quick to react and pounce on the rebound, but again he was disappointed as the keeper produced a great save to deny him.
The next chance on goal only came in the 40th minute as Zimbabwe’s Donald Ngoma got on the end of a corner-kick, but his header from six yards went narrowly wide.
The start of the second 45 was also a cagey affair as both teams sat back in defence.
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Morocco, though, should have scored ten minutes after the restart as Zakaria el-Hachimi curled an effort inches wide from just inside the box.
In the 64th minute Zimbabwe struck the post as Simbarashe Sithole let loose from just outside the box, the rebound then fell to Ali Sadiki who saw his attempt superbly saved by Nadir Lamyaghri.
Ten minutes later and Sadiki tried his luck on goal again from a tight angle way out, but his effort went wide of the goal.
In the 79th minute Abdessamad Rafik beat a couple of defenders before firing on goal, but his attempt was easily saved by George Chigova.
Neither team could go on to find the winner as the match ended all-square and the points were shared in the opening Group B game.
— MTNFootball
