Morocco to battle Malawi

Morocco come into the match on the back of a 2-2 draw against Gabon in their final group fixture. Morocco knew they had already booked their place in the round of 16 so there was no pressure on them to win the game, but they came back from a losing position twice to take a point. The draw was enough to see them finish top of their group.

Morocco started their Africa Cup of Nations campaign with a difficult looking fixture against Ghana and just as it appeared as though the match was going to finish without a goal, Morocco scored the winner in the 83rd minute.

That victory left Morocco in a strong position heading into the second round of group fixtures and they were the favourite to beat Comoros and seal a place in the round of 16.

Morocco made no mistake, and they opened the scoring after only 16 minutes before wrapping up the victory with a second goal in the 88th minute of the game.

Trends show Morocco are on an unbeaten run of 31 games in all competitions, which is a fantastic record. Trends show Morocco have kept a clean sheet in 7 of their last 9 fixtures in all competitions.

Malawi progressed to the round of 16 having finished as one of the best third placed teams. They started the competition with a 1-0 defeat against Guinea but responded well to that loss by defeating Zimbabwe 2-1.

Malawi fell a goal behind in the game and it would have been easy for their heads to drop having lost their opening match. However, Malawi struck back with 2 goals, the second of which came in the 58th minute.

Morocco to battle Malawi

The victory gave Malawi something to fight for in their final and arguably toughest fixture in the group against Senegal.

Malawi defended will in the game and secured a good 0-0 draw, which was enough to see them progress to the round of 16.

Trends show Malawi have been struggling to score goals and they have failed to find the back of the net in 4 of their last 6 matches in all competitions.

Looking ahead to the team news and Morocco can call upon some top European based talent, including Yassine Bounou, Romain Saïss, Achraf Hakimi, Youssef En-Nesyri, and Sofiane Boufal.

The bulk of Malawi’s squad play in the Malawi and South African leagues. Gabadinho Mhango of Orlando Pirates in their top goal scorer.