African Nations Cup
January 19, 2013
Angola
0 - 0
Morocco
Group A
19:00 +00:00, January 19, 2013
FNB Stadium, South Africa
Referee: Diatta Badara
Referee: Badara Diatta
Angola 0-0 Morocco
Scoring Summary
| Angola | Morocco |
|---|
Teams
| Angola | Morocco |
|---|---|
| 1 Joao Mamona Luis Lama | 1 Nadir Lamyaghri |
| 15 Miguel | 5 Mehdi Benatia |
| 4 Alex Afonso Dani Massunguna | 15 Abdel El Kaoutari |
| 20 Regio Francisco Congo Zalta Mingo Bile | 17 Issam Adoua |
| 13 Bastos | 2 Abderrahim Chakir |
| 3 Antonio Lunguinha | 8 Karim El Ahmadi |
| 6 Aderito Waldemar Dede | 6 Adil Hermach |
| 18 Hermenegildo Da Costa | 7 Abdelaziz Barrada |
| 16 Jose Pirolito | 14 Mounir El Hamdaoui |
| 9 Manucho | 21 Nordin Amrabat |
| 17 Mateus | 11 Oussama Assaidi |
| Substitutes | |
| 22 Adilson Neblu | Khalid Askri 22 |
| 12 Mavanga Landu | Anas Zniti 12 |
| 10 Francisco Zuela | Ahmed Kantari 4 |
| 2 Marcos Airosa | Zakara Bergdich 3 |
| 14 Amandio Costa | Abdelatif Noussir 16 |
| 5 Mafuta Fabricio | Kamel Chafni 19 |
| 11 Sebastiao Felisberto Graca Amaral Gilberto | Younés Belhanda 10 |
| 7 Campos Braume Manuel Abel Djalma | Mehdi Namli 23 |
| 21 Manuel Costa | Youssef Idrissi Kaddioui 13 |
| 8 Osvaldo Manucho Dinis | Youssef El Arabi 9 |
| 23 Guilherme Afonso | Chahir Belghazouani 18 |
| 19 Herculano Yano | Abderazak Hamdallah 20 |
| Substitutions | |
| Guilherme Afonso for Regio Francisco Congo Zalta Mingo Bile (46) | Younés Belhanda for Abdelaziz Barrada (63) |
| Marcos Airosa for Antonio Lunguinha (78) | Youssef El Arabi for Mounir El Hamdaoui (71) |
| Sebastiao Felisberto Graca Amaral Gilberto for Hermenegildo Da Costa (82) | Chahir Belghazouani for Karim El Ahmadi (82) |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Manucho (35) | Mehdi Benatia (56) |
| Younés Belhanda (77) | |
| · Squads: Angola | Morocco | |
Angola and Morocco played out a goalless stalemate to cap a disappointing opening day's action at the African Nations Cup.
After hosts South Africa and Cape Verde kicked off the tournament with a listless 0-0 draw earlier today, a similarly uninspiring contest played out in Johannesburg this evening, although Angola and Morocco at least showed a little more enterprise.
Former Manchester United striker Manucho might have secured Angola all the points to take them top of Group A, but his header from an inviting cross flashed just wide in the dying moments.
Angola fired an early warning shot when Mingo Bile hit a low drive that forced Nadir Lamyaghri into a good save in the third minute, while Morocco threatened when Mounir El Hamdaoui drove forward and fired in an effort that warmed the palms of Mamona Lama.
Liverpool's Oussama Assaidi hooked an effort over the bar in the 14th minute as Morocco again threatened, but that was as good as the first period got as chances dried up.
Morocco's highly-rated Montpellier playmaker Younes Belhanda suffered a slight muscle injury ahead of the match and was only fit enough for a place on the bench, but he was quickly into the action after coming on in the 63rd minute, firing a low shot wide from inside the area.
Yet it was Angola who looked most likely to break the deadlock late on and Mateus went close in the 87th minute with a fierce shot from distance that went straight down the throat of Lamyaghri.
With the clock ticking down there was still time for one more chance to come and go, Manucho spurning perhaps the game's best opening as he flung himself at Mateus' cross but somehow glanced his diving header from six yards beyond the far post.