From Salah Magic To A Gabon Nightmare: What have been the key AFCON talking points over in Morocco?

Morocco’s fairytale on home soil

Suffering a disappointing Round of 16 exit over in the Ivory Coast two years ago, Morocco opened proceedings last month with plenty of expectations on their shoulders.

Backed by a vocal home support over the past few weeks, the Atlas Lions are at the heart of what has become a real fairytale and Walid Regragui’s high-flying squad are widely regarded as a standout contender to get their hands on a first AFCON crown since way back in 1976.

Cruising their way to this summer’s World Cup finals over in North America and set to share a group with South American icons Brazil, Morocco are riding what has quickly become a major wave of momentum.

Punching their semi-final ticket last week and collecting a heavyweight African scalp as they secured a 2-0 victory against Cameroon, this month’s host nations have also gained a reputation for their defensive steel.

Conceding just a single AFCON goal in any of their first five showdowns so far, Morocco will meet Nigeria on Wednesday night at the Stade Prince Moulay Adballah.

Morocco beat Cameroon to advance to the AFCON –

The Atlas Lions have conceded just so far pic.twitter.com/bXuAacLaOl

— LiveScore (@livescore) January 9, 2026

Gabon’s public crisis

While Gabon might have watched their World Cup dreams come to a routine end back on November 13th as they fell to a 4-1 loss at the hands of Nigeria, Gabon travelled over to Morocco with the mood in their camp at a reported high.

Making their AFCON return and with their sights set on mounting a genuine knockout stage charge, striking superstar Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was also expected to play a leading role.

However, losing all of their three Group F showdowns by an aggregate score of 7-4 and failing to put a single point on the board, Gabon have since found themselves at the heart of a public crisis.

Following a 3-2 defeat against now-former AFCON champions Ivory Coast on New Year’s Eve, Gabon’s government astonishingly announced that they were suspending all national team duties.

Along with sacking Head Coach Thierry Mouyouma, it was also shockingly announced that Aubameyang was banned from any team selections going forward and Sports Minister Simplice-Desire Mamboula described their AFCON adventure as “disgraceful”.

Gabon’s national team has been suspended by the government after a winless AFCON, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bruno Ecuele Manga banned from selection and the coaching staff dissolved.

Gabon finished bottom of Group F after losing all three games in Morocco pic.twitter.com/Kzu60lTvDP

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 1, 2026

Salah & Diaz set AFCON alight

Unleashing an infamous tirade on Liverpool boss Arne Slot last month and at the heart of a major saga on Merseyside, it was certainly Mohamed Salah who stole plenty of the pre-AFCON headlines.

Although there might be continued speculation that the Anfield poster boy could have played his final game for the Premier League giants, Salah has continued on a record-breaking run over in Morocco.

Unexpectedly spearheading Egypt’s charge to a final four ticket, the 33-year-old has found the net in all of his four AFCON appearances over the past few weeks and has only further underlined his status as Egypt’s most iconic star in history.

However, bagging his own quarter-final strike during Morocco’s 2-0 win against Cameroon last week, Real Madrid superstar Brahim Diaz has set his home nation alight and appears to be the standout pick to be claimed Player of the Tournament.

In fact, the 26-year-old has astonishingly got on the scoresheet in all five of Morocco’s AFCON appearances and the Los Blancos attacker finds his stock at a red-hot high.

The Egyptian King.
Mohamed Salah is the TotalEnergies Man of the Match.#TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 | @Football2Gether pic.twitter.com/5rsh2Iu9aO

— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) January 10, 2026

All eyes fall on the final four

With the likes of reigning AFCON champions Ivory Coast falling by the wayside, all eyes will now fall on the final four and what promises to be a nail-biting Wednesday night of action.

While Morocco and their remarkably rugged defence might be looking to take another giant leap towards getting their hands on just a second African crown, this month’s host face a heavyweight challenge when they meet historic foes Nigeria in Rabat.

With a spot in Sunday’s showpiece event hanging in the balance, it will be Salah and Egypt who steal plenty of the midweek attention in Tanger.

Suffering major World Cup qualifying heartbreak at the hands of Senegal when they last met their fellow giants back in March 2022, Egypt will be searching for some famous revenge at the Stade Ibn Batouta.

AFCON semi-final fixtures: 

• Wednesday, January 14th: Senegal vs Egypt – 17:30 (Tanger)
• Wednesday, January 14th: Nigeria vs Morocco 20:00 (Rabat)

F O U R.
Four champions. Four for more.

The #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 semi-finals. Dreamlike. 🌟 pic.twitter.com/eLIRL7JOhj

— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) January 10, 2026