{"id":3440,"date":"2025-12-29T03:53:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T03:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines"},"modified":"2025-12-30T04:54:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T04:54:27","slug":"afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines","title":{"rendered":"AFCON: Morocco Beats Zambia, Kaabi Shines"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ap-summary\" dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<h4>What You Need to Know<\/h4>\n<p>Ayoub El Kaabi scored twice to lead Morocco to a 3-0 victory over Zambia in the Africa Cup of Nations, ensuring Morocco topped Group A with 7 points. The match featured a strong performance from Morocco, including a notable return of Achraf Hakimi. Zambia finished fourth in the group with 2 points, missing out on advancement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa. <\/strong> <\/span>Ayoub El Kaabi continued his impressive scoring streak, leading Morocco to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Zambia, securing the top spot in their group at the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday evening. The match also marked the return of defender Achraf Hakimi.<\/p>\n<p>Morocco topped Group A with 7 points, 4 points ahead of Mali, which drew 0-0 with Comoros, while Zambia finished fourth with 2 points, trailing Comoros on goal difference.<\/p>\n<p>El Kaabi gave Morocco an early lead in the ninth minute, showcasing the dominance of coach Walid Regragui&#8217;s team from the start. Brahim Diaz doubled the lead in the 27th minute after a brilliant series of passes.<\/p>\n<p>El Kaabi added his second and Morocco&#8217;s third with a spectacular overhead kick, reminiscent of his stunning goal in the opening match against Comoros.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, the goal was disallowed for offside, leaving the veteran striker frustrated, but the referee later reviewed the video technology and confirmed the goal in the 50th minute.<\/p>\n<p>With this victory, Morocco will face the third-placed team from Group C, D, or E in the Round of 16.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"HIGHLIGHTS | Zambia ? Morocco | #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 - Group A | \u0645\u0644\u062e\u0635 \u0632\u0627\u0645\u0628\u064a\u0627 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0645\u063a\u0631\u0628\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YkppFSOXyiY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Africa Cup of Nations is a premier football tournament in Africa, showcasing the continent&#8217;s top national teams. Morocco has a rich football history, having won the tournament in 1976 and consistently performing well in international competitions. The current tournament highlights emerging talents like Ayoub El Kaabi, who is making a significant impact on the field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What You Need to Know Ayoub El Kaabi scored twice to lead Morocco to a 3-0 victory over Zambia in the Africa Cup of Nations, ensuring Morocco topped Group A with 7 points. The match featured a strong performance from Morocco, including a notable return of Achraf Hakimi. Zambia finished fourth in the group with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[120,756,861,112,452,344],"class_list":{"0":"post-3440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sport","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-africa-cup","10":"tag-ayoub-el-kaabi","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-morocco","13":"tag-zambia"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AFCON: Morocco Beats Zambia, Kaabi Shines - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ayoub El Kaabi shines as Morocco secures a 3-0 victory over Zambia in the Africa Cup, advancing to the knockout stage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AFCON: Morocco Beats Zambia, Kaabi Shines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ayoub El Kaabi shines as Morocco secures a 3-0 victory over Zambia in the Africa Cup, advancing to the knockout stage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-29T03:53:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-30T04:54:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2025\/12\/sm_1767070174.112709.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"AFCON: Morocco Beats Zambia, Kaabi Shines\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-29T03:53:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-30T04:54:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines\"},\"wordCount\":320,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2025\/12\/sm_1767070174.112709.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"Africa Cup\",\"Ayoub El Kaabi\",\"Football\",\"Morocco\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/sport\/afcon-morocco-beats-zambia-kaabi-shines\",\"name\":\"AFCON: Morocco Beats Zambia, Kaabi Shines - 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