International Football
Morocco are second African team to reach World Cup qualifying final round
Morocco became the second nation to guarantee their place in the third and final round of the African Qualifiers of FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022, after beating Guinea 4-1 in Rabat on Tuesday night in a rescheduled matchday 2 Group I match.
Substitute Selim Amallah brace, Ayoub El Kaabi opener and another sub Sofiane Boufal acrobatic kick were enough to give Morocco their fourth win in as many matches, while Mamadou Kane scored Guinea’s consolation goal.
The win took Morocco to maximum 12 points, eight more than second-place Guinea Bissau with two games remaining, as the Atlas Lions joined Senegal in the final round scheduled in March 2022.
Despite playing in their capital Rabat, Morocco were considered visitors, as Guinea opted to play there due to political situation at home that caused the game to be rescheduled from the past month.
The game’s first chance fell to Morocco after 15 minutes, when substitute Selim Amallah, who was on the pitch for less than a minute, passed to Imran Louza, whose shot missed the target narrowly.
Morocco took the lead after 20 minutes. Achraf Hakimi’s cross from the right side found Ryan Mmaee’s whose header rebounded from the crossbar, only for El Kaabi’s to send another header that passed the line to give the Atlas Lions a deserved lead.
Against the run of play, Guinea equalized at the half hour mark. Amallah lost the ball to Mamdou Kane and the right back sent a shot from 25 yards that was deflected by Romain Saiss to deceive Yacine Bono in goal for Morocco and make it 1-1. It was the first goal Morocco concedes in the qualifiers.
Three minutes before halftime Morocco restored the lead. Louza’s free-kick was met by Soufiane Chikha who headed to Amallah to send home from close range.
After the break, Mohamed Kamara shot from the edge of the box could have gave Guinea an equalizer after 57 minutes but the ball went just wide.
And it became 3-1 after 65 minutes. From a corner kick Louza found Amallah whose shot rebounded from the crossbar into the net to complete his personal brace.
A minute from full time, substitute Sofiane Boufal put the icing over the cake with an acrobatic bicycle kick finish from Faycal Fajr cross, as Morocco qualified to the final round in grand style.
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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