Morocco knock Ivory Coast out of Afcon

Morocco beat Ivory Coast 1-0 to reach the Africa
Cup of Nations quarter-finals and knock out the
champions.
Rachid Alioui scored with a terrific shot from 25
yards to earn the win for Morocco and their coach
Herve Renard, who led the Ivorians to the 2015
title.
Ivory Coast needed a win to go through but gave a
listless performance, creating only two chances of
note.
Wilfried Zaha shot weakly from 12 yards, while
Salomon Kalou's header from a tight angle clipped
a post.
The Elephants lacked urgency in their play and go
home after appearing not to put up a fight.
Even after going behind they were unable to cause
the organised and disciplined Morocco defence any
problems.
Morocco went into the game knowing that a draw
was very likely to be enough for them to qualify
from Group C and their game plan from the start
was to stay compact and hit on the counter-
attack.
It served to frustrate their opponents, who opted
for the long-ball approach on a shocking pitch and
failed to find any penetration.
Morocco could have added a second on the
counter-attack but 19-year-old full-back Hamza
Mendyl shot into the side netting after running half
the length of the pitch.
They will play the winner of Group D in the last
eight on Sunday.
DR Congo are also through from Group C, finishing
top of the table after beating Togo 3-1.