Group F of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations took place from 17 to 24 January 2024.[1] The group consisted of Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, and Tanzania.[2]
Morocco and DR Congo as the top two teams advanced to the round of 16.
| Draw position | Team | Zone | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA Rankings | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2023 | December 2023 | |||||||||||||
| F1 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="F1" | Group K winners | data-sort-value="2" | 28 March 2023 | 19th | data-sort-value="6.1" | Winners (1976) | 13 | 13 | ||||
| F2 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="F2" | Group I winners | data-sort-value="20" | 9 September 2023 | 20th | data-sort-value="6.2" | Winners (1968, 1974) | 64 | 67 | ||||
| F3 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="F3" | Group H winners | data-sort-value="8" | 17 June 2023 | 18th | data-sort-value="6.3" | Winners (2012) | 82 | 84 | ||||
| F4 | style=white-space:nowrap | data-sort-value="F4" | Group F runners-up | data-sort-value="18" | 7 September 2023 | 4th | data-sort-value="6.4" | Group stage (1980, 2019) | 122 | 121 | ||||
All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).
Morocco and Tanzania met for the sixth time, with the previous five being qualification matches for both the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. The first meeting occurred on 9 October 2010, with Morocco winning 1–0 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and would win again exactly one year later on 9 October 2011, a 3–1 victory in Marrakech which secured Morocco's qualification for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. The nation split the two meetings during qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with Tanzania pulling off a 3–1 victory in Dar es Salaam on 24 March 2013, before Morocco won 2–1 in Marrakech on 8 June 2013. Ultimately, neither nation qualified for the tournament. The most recent meeting occurred on 21 November 2023, with Morocco winning 2–0 in Dar es Salaam to start off its road to qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
For the first 30 minutes Morocco struggled to break down a cohesive Tanzanian side, however, Hakim Ziyech finally struck a fierce free kick that was parried by Aishi Manula and fell for Romain Saïss to score the opener. Morocco struggled to break through the Tanzanian defence again until Novatus Dismas got dismissed in the 70th minute after a foul on Azzedine Ounahi. Ounahi then struck the second seven minutes later, before Youssef En-Nesyri secured Morocco's win just three minutes later from a clinical Achraf Hakimi pass.
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| Man of the Match: Azzedine Ounahi (Morocco)
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DR Congo and Zambia met for the 14th time, with the previous notable meetings including matches during qualification for the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations, the 1998 World Cup, and the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations. Note that some of the meetings included matches that DR Congo played as Zaire, and the 2-2 draw on Apr. 9, 1997, was notable because it would be the penultimate match Zaire played before being renamed to DR Congo. Both nations also finished in the top two of the qualification group for the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations to advance.
The match started brightly for the Congolese, but despite their domination, it was Zambia who struck first when a throw-in from Patson Daka fell to Kings Kangwa after clumsy efforts to clear by the DRC players. Nonetheless, DR Congo equalized just four minutes later when Cédric Bakambu unleashed his speed to overcome the Zambian defense before sending the ball through to Yoane Wissa to score. The final result was a 1–1 draw, the same as their previous competitive meeting in the 2015 AFCON.
This also meant Zambia had not won a competitive AFCON match since 2012, when they had been crowned champions.
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| Man of the Match: Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)
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Morocco and DR Congo met for the sixth time in the 21st century, and the first time since the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, where DR Congo won 1–0. However, their most recent meetings was at the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, in which Morocco advanced to the 2022 FIFA World Cup after winning 5-2 on aggregate.
The match started well for the Moroccans when a corner by Hakim Ziyech, was volleyed in by Achraf Hakimi to give Morocco the lead in the sixth minute. However, the Congolese ramped up pressure later on despite Moroccan domination. They got a penalty from Selim Amallah's handball in the 36th minute, but Cédric Bakambu wasted this golden opportunity by putting his penalty wide. However, as the Moroccans started losing momentum in the second half, they were made to pay in the 76th minute when Meschak Elia's low cross was met by Silas Katompa Mvumpa to hit the equalizer.
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Man of the Match:
Silas Katompa Mvumpa (DR Congo)
This was the teams’ first meeting at an AFCON tournament, with their most recent competitive meeting being in the 2020 African Nations Championship.
In the 11th minute Simon Msuva capitalised from teammate Mbwana Samatta's wicked cross to give Tanzania the lead, and things appeared to get even better for the Tanzanians when Zambia's captain Rodrick Kabwe committed a brutal foul against Samatta in the midfield at the 44th minute, resulting in his dismissal after two yellow cards. However, Tanzania failed to capitalise from that advantage and they were undone in the 88th minute when Patson Daka, from Clatous Chama's corner, struck late with a header to kill off Tanzania's hopes for a maiden AFCON victory.
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Man of the Match:
Patson Daka (Zambia)
It was the two countries' first ever AFCON meeting.
In a match mostly dominated by dull displays from both sides, Gaël Kakuta tried his luck with a set-piece, while Feisal Salum and Mbwana Samatta attempted to get to the scoresheet to no avail. Other attempts by Fiston Mayele and Simon Msuva also didn't produce results, as Tanzania and DR Congo were forced to settle for a draw.
The draw meant that Tanzania failed to register a single win in all three AFCON tournaments in which they had played, while DR Congo unimpressively advanced to the knockout stage to face Egypt, who had, like the Congolese, progressed despite remaining winless in their group.
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| Man of the Match: Gaël Kakuta (DR Congo)
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The two teams had never met at an AFCON tournament, with the most recent competitive meeting coming in the 2020 African Nations Championship, where Morocco had eliminated Zambia 3–1 in the knockout stage.
A draw would have sufficed for Zambia to have progressed ahead of Ivory Coast as one of the top four third-placed teams, but Hakim Ziyech scored the only goal to eliminate Zambia from the tournament.
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| Man of the Match: Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco)
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Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3 | 1 | –6 | |||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | –3 | |||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | –5 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | –6 |
