WAFCON: Now legendary, the Atlas Lionesses easily qualified for the finale

THE Moroccan women’s football team has qualified for the finale of the Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) football. The Lionesses won on penalty shootouts against the Nigerians who were eleven times African champions in fourteen competitions. The Nigerians opened the scoring thanks to Yasmin Mrabet who sent the ball into her own net in the 62nd minute, before Sanaâ Mssoudy answered immediately in the 66th minute with an equalizer. The first leg of the match was marked by possession of the ball by the Nigerians, but did not allow them to score, because of Moroccan goalkeeper Khadija Er-Rmichi’s mindfulness. In the second leg of the match, the change made by coach Reynald Pedros by introducing striker Samya Hassani to take over from Salma Amani (at the 61st minute) boosted the offensive line of the Atlas Lionesses who were more aggressive, like Rosella Ayane who seriously threatened goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie’s net on many occasions. At the end of the extra time dominated by the Moroccan team, the two teams headed for the penalty shootout, an exercise that turned in favor of the Atlas Lionesses who posted a good performance with this qualification. In the finale, they will face their South African counterparts who won in extremis against Zambia with the score of 1 goal to 0.

Photo report by A. Bziouat