By David Gold
December 7 – Morocco beat Egypt 3-2 in the African Olympic qualifiers semi-final in Marrakech to secure a place at the London 2012 Olympic Games football tournament.
Abdelaziz Barrada (pictured right) was the hero for the hosts, who stunned the Egyptians in the first minute of the match when he fired home.
With just ten minutes on the clock it was 2-0 and Egypt faced an uphill struggle following the Getafe player’s second goal of the game, as he rounded goalkeeper Ahmed El-Shenawy to slot home.
Egypt rallied, having two shots cleared off the line and one strike at the post as they looked to get back into the match, and finally got the goal their pressure warranted after 35 minutes through Mohamed Salah, firing a superb shot into Younes Itri’s net.
Barrada then helped score the crucial third as he ran forward before feeding Soufiane Bidaoui, who made no mistake to make it 3-1.
Egypt once more struck the woodwork before Mohamed Ahmed Abd El Baset netted their second to ensure a nervy finale.
Morocco held on to qualify for London though, consigning Egypt to the third place play off against Senegal on Saturday.
The winner of that game will also book an Olympic place, whilst the loser will play in Coventry next year against an Asian team for a final chance to qualify.
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