South Africa eliminated by Safri's penalty

Morocco 1 South Africa 1

In a competition that was in danger of dying on its feet, Morocco did everyone a favour here in Tunisia last night, although that was not immediately apparent during this tame draw.

What this result meant was that the quarter-finals of the African Nations Cup will feature two matches of enormous importance to various parts of the continent.

By gaining the point they needed to win Group D, Morocco will now play on Sunday in a North African derby of the highest magnitude, against their great rivals and neighbours Algeria. The former will be favourites, especially having beaten Nigeria in the group stages, but Algeria will certainly fancy their chances against the so-called Atlas Eagles.

The second quarter-final, which is Nigeria against the holders Cameroon, who topped their group on Tuesday night, also takes place on Sunday and should further help waken this 24th Nations Cup out of its growing slumber. The match pitches the team who think they are the best in Africa, namely Nigeria, against the side who have been undisputably the best for the past four years and are going for a historic third consecutive win.

Here on a chilly night in coastal Tunisia, Morocco were ultimately lucky to draw, helped by a dubious penalty awarded by a local referee. The Coventry City midfielder Youssef Safri duly converted the spot-kick eight minutes before the break. Neil Winstanley was the unfortunate South African defender wrongly penalised after winning the ball with a textbook tackle on Jaouad Zairi.

On a pitch that harked back to the bad old days of the First Division in winter, the Morocco goalkeeper still had no excuse for the mistake that led to South Africa's opener. After 29 minutes Siyabonga Nomvete, Bafana Bafana's talented forward, hit a harmless low cross that Khalid Fouhami fumbled into the path of Patrick Mayo, who tapped home.

South Africa, winners of this competition in 1996 on home soil, had a near-impossible task before the match if they were to reach the last eight. They had to beat Morocco by a four-goal margin and hope Nigeria lost or drew against Benin.

In other words, they were always facing an early exit from the competition, and now the Nations Cup can get down to serious business this weekend.

MOROCCO (3-5-2): Fouhami; El Karkouri, Naybet, Ouaddou; Regragui, Kissi, Safri, Kharja, Mokhtari (El Yaagoubi, 82); Hadji (Hdiouad, 90), Zairi.

SOUTH AFRICA (4-4-2): Lekgetho, Mokoena (Pule, 82), Winstanley, Thabang; Mabizela, Teboho, Zuma, Buckley (Nhleko, 62); Nomvete, Mayo.

Referee: H Guirat (Tunisia)

QUARTER-FINALS

Saturday 7 February
Tunisia v Senegal (Rades) 1600
Mali v Guinea (Tunis) 1300

Sunday 8 February
Cameroon v Nigeria (Monastir) 1300
Morocco v Algeria (Sfax) 1600

all times GMT