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Brahim Diaz couldn’t hide his delight after Morocco won 2-0 at home in Oujda over Tanzania in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Speaking after the match, Brahim said, “It was a tough game because they [Tanzania] kept dropping back to defend. We had to push hard to score.” He added, “We played well, showed strong team spirit, and that impressed me. I’m really happy with the win. That’s all we want—win, win, win.”
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The Real Madrid playmaker also looked ahead to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which Morocco will host next December. “Everything is shaping up well for the AFCON. We’ll be playing on home soil with our families cheering us on. It’ll be amazing,” he said.
Brahim concluded, “I’m thrilled to play the AFCON at home. The fans are behind us, and that drove us to win. We’ve got tons of quality in this team, and we’ll keep improving to be at our best for the tournament.”
Morocco is set to play two thrilling friendly matches in June, facing archrivals Tunisia and the team that knocked them out of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations — Benin.
The Atlas Lions will take on Tunisia on June 7, 2025, before playing Benin just three days later on June 10. Both games will be held at Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Morocco versus Tunisia is a classic African showdown. These two football powerhouses have faced off 50 times since 1960, with Morocco having the upper hand in the head-to-head with 14 wins and Tunisia having eight. A staggering 24 games ended in a draw, which says a lot about how tight this rivalry is.
The last time Morocco met Benin, it ended in heartbreak. In the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations held in Egypt, Morocco looked destined for victory on paper but threw it away in the most dramatic fashion.
Youssef En-Nesyri scored first for the Atlas Lions, but disaster struck when the Moroccan defender Nayef Aguerd scored an own goal, leveling up the match. Then came the moment that still haunts Moroccan fans — Hakim Ziyech stepped up to shoot the match-deciding penalty in the last minutes of the game, but he missed.
Extra time did not set the two teams apart, and the game progressed to penalties where Benin held their nerve, winning 4-1 in the shootout.
To this day, many believe that if M’Barek Boussoufa had taken the penalty instead, the result could have been very different.
History, however, still favours Morocco. Out of six meetings, the Atlas Lions have won five. Benin won only once.
These friendlies are more than just warm-up games. They are a chance for Walid Regragui to fine-tune his tactics ahead of bigger continental and international competitions.
