HOPES were high for the home nation at Afcon (Africa cup of nations). Morocco were going from strength to strength in the tournament.
The country has won the tournament only once before, 50 years ago.
With their poster-boy Brahim Diaz playing exceptionally well and the nation behind them, a win in Sunday night’s final in Rabat seemed written in the stars.
Senegal stood in their way.
Diaz’s team were firm favourites: in their previous encounters Morocco had won 18 matches to Senegal’s 6.
Real Madrid forward Diaz had scored 5 goals in 7 games to propel his nation to the final of the tournament.
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Diaz was born in Malaga: his mother is from the city while his father was born into a Moroccan family in Melilla.
After receiving one senior cap for Spain jumped across the Strait of Gibraltar to represent Morocco where he became a national icon.
The chance for a fairytale ending came when VAR awarded a penalty to the home side in the 98th minute.
The former Manchester city player stepped up but the Senegalese team, unhappy with VAR’s decision, walked off the pitch.
Diaz waited for 15 minutes to take his penalty with the weight of a nation on his shoulders.
When his opponents returned to the pitch, Morocco’s starboy made the absurd decision to attempt a Paneka penalty.
In the 1976 Euro final (eerily the same year Morocco won their first and only Afcon), Czech player Antonin Paneka waited for the goalkeeper to dive and then chipped the ball down the middle of the goal.
The Paneka penalty was born.
Big names (Zidane, Messi, Neymar and Ibrahimovic) pulled it off, and others (Peter Crouch, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Stirling) have fallen short.
Diaz’s Paneka landed straight in the arms of the Senegal goalkeeper. Far from a worldie, it is a moment Diaz will have nightmares about.
A late goal from Pape Gueye clinched it for Senegal who triumphed in Africa for the second time.
Diaz finished the tournament as the top goal scorer and will be crucial to Morocco’s hopes at the upcoming World Cup later this year.
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