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– Angola and Morocco get their 2013 Africa Cup of Nations campaigns underway when they meet at Soccer City in Johannesburg on Saturday night. |
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– The match will be the second of the day at the venue after South Africa and Cape Verde drew 0-0 in the tournament opener. |
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– Both Angola and Morocco have enjoying good build-ups to the tournament, although the Moroccan Press has been critical of coach Rachid Taoussi and his decision to leave out experience stars Marouane Chamakh, Houssine Kharja and Adel Taarabt from his squad. |
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– The odds are stacked against an Angolan success, in five previous meetings with Morocco they have lost four. The other was a 2-2 draw. The last of these matches was in Lisbon in 2009 when Morocco won 2-0. |
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– Most of the crowd have left the stadium, no doubt to drown their sorrows after that particularly ... dull first game between South Africa and Cape Verde. |
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– The teams are coming out onto the pitch now. Just the anthems to go and then we will be underway. |
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1’ – And we are underway ... goals please! |
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3’ – It is still quite wet under foot, not the easiest of conditions for the players. |
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4’ – Mingo Bille has a left-footed strike that forces a save from Lamyarghri. The keeper spills the ball, but gathers at the second attempt. |
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5’ – Lama produces a fine save low to his right. |
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8’ – Manucho is almost set free down the middle, but the ball gets caught under his feet and Morocco can clear the danger. |
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10’ – Lama makes a great save to deny El-Hamdaoui from the edge of the box! |
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11’ – The corner comes to nothing. |
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14’ – Poor touch 30-yards out means an Angolan attack comes to nothing. Assaidi shoots over for Morocco from a tight angle. |
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17’ – Third corner for Morocco, but it is easily cleared by Angola. The north Africans have been the better side in the opening stages. Angola looking for the counter. |
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20’ – Angola with a rare ball into the Morocco box from a free-kick. The ball is cleared sat the second attempt. |
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22’ – Amrabat breaks into the box, but Dani manages to clear. |
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25’ – Morocco continue to look the most likely to score, they have certainly done all the pressing in this half. |
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25’ – Adil Hermach (Morocco) is cautioned. |
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27’ – Another chance for Angola to put the ball into the box with a free-kick ... Manucho tries to tee-up a teammate, but his ball into the box sees the flag go up for offside. |
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30’ – Half an hour gone and no goals, Morocco have come closest, with Lama making one outstanding save. |
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34’ – Manucho (Angola) is cautioned. |
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35’ – Moroccan free-kick into the box is directly into the arms of Lama. |
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38’ – Angola have just seen a bit more of the ball in the last five minutes. Still really just the one save from Lama to light up this half so far. |
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40’ – Hermach shoots woefully over from range. 130 minutes of football at Soccer City tonight and still no goals. Not a great start to the tournament! |
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43’ – Amrabay wastes a crossing opportunity from the byline. |
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44’ – Decent free-kick opportunity for Angola just before halftime. It is central and 35-yards out ... |
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45’ – ... Manucho puts it over. |
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45’ – We will have one minutes of injury-time. |
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45 + 1’ – The referee brings the first half to an end. |
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– The first half started quite well with chances at either end, but the longer it went on, the more scrappy the play. Disappointingly, it is still 0-0. |
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46’ – (Angola) Substitution:Guilherme Afonso |
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46’ – And we are back under way in the second half! |
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47’ – Lamyaghri drops a routine ball and Afonso toe-pokes it towards goal, but just wide! Great chance! |
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50’ – So, quite a lively start to the second half. Angola should be ahead. Morocco have lost their grip on this game. |
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53’ – Heart-in-mouth for El Kaoutari, who deflects a low cross towards his own goal, but Lamyaghri saves. |
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56’ – Medhi Benatia (Morocco) is cautioned. |
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58’ – Angola now in complete control of possession, what a turnaround from the first half. Just still searching for that killer final ball. |
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60’ – The quality of the match has dipped a bit. Mateus had a shot at goal that ended up being a sideways pass to a teammate! |
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63’ – (Morocco) Substitution:Younes Belhanda |
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67’ – Corner for Angola as they continue to press ... Manucho just fails to get to the ball at the back post. |
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69’ – Good feet from Belhanda works a shooting opportunity, but he is just wide of the target from 18 yards. |
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71’ – (Morocco) Substitution:Youssef El-Arabi |
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74’ – El-Arabi's goal-bound shot is blocked after a poor mistake in the Angolan defence. I think we are headed for another 0-0 draw! |
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77’ – Younes Belhanda (Morocco) is cautioned. |
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78’ – (Angola) Substitution:Marco Airosa |
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80’ – El-Arabi just fails to get onto low cross that would have provided him with a simple tap-in. |
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82’ – (Morocco) Substitution:Chahir Belghazouani |
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82’ – (Angola) Substitution:Gilberto |
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84’ – Great chance for Angola, but Manucho puts it wide! He picked up the lose ball in the area, but shot wide. |
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87’ – Mateus has a shot on target, but it is straight at the Moroccan keeper. |
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89’ – Mateus with great work down the right, but neither Manucho nor Alfonso could get on the end of the cross. |
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90’ – We will have three minutes of injury-time. Angola really should be ahead. |
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90 + 3’ – Afonso had a chance to score at the death, but he completely miss-kicked! |
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90 + 4’ – The referee blows the whistle for Full Time. |
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– So no goals after 180 minutes of football tonight at Soccer City,l though this game produced more chances than the first. Angola really should have won it. |
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