How it poured down during the opening match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat. Still, the dignataries in the VVVV VIP seats looked happy. They were dry.
Prince among players
Less than four months after officially inaugurating the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan was back at the venue to lend royal lustre to the opening match at the 2025 Cup of Nations between Morocco and Comoros. And work on his common touch. The heir to the throne forewent the rigmarole of a lackey holding an umbrella over his head to get down and rained upon among some of the Moroccans he will one day reign over. At the end of the on-the-pitch handshakes, smiles and formalities, the 22-year-old posed for a picture with both teams. And then the players' prince left them to it.
Onwards without the usual skipper
Once back up in the VVVV best seats in the VVVV top suites in the 68,500-seat arena, the Morocco team failed to produce the flourishes on the field for the crown prince. Soufiane Rahimi missed a penalty during a barren first-half. But two fine goals later, the partisans were pleased. And Morocco had won without risking the health of skipper Achraf Hakimi.
Saintly Saintfiet
As the Moroccan nation geared up for the the only football match in the universe, some of the soon to be also-ran outfits involved in the 24-team Cup of Nations were finalising their plans. In Casablanca, some 90km down the Atlantic coast from Rabat, Mali and Zambia were preparing to play on Day 2. Tom Saintfiet, the Mali coach, was a picture of respect when talking about Zambia. "It's really the most difficult game," averred the 52-year-old Belgian. "First of all, their team is physical and it's a team who is united, with good technical strength. And they are very dangerous in transition." Old school jargon might put that as: "They know how to look after themselves and they're good on the break." But the review was reared when players could pass back to the goalkeeper who could then pick the ball up. None of this pretty-feet passes around the box mullarkey. Morocco and Mali, both higher up the Fifa world rankings than Comoros and Zambia, are expected to progress from Group A to the knockout stages. Added Saintfiet. "All the teams in our group can go to the second round. Zambia will start also with the ambition to have a good start." Oh, he's good.
Mo be there
Day 1. And inspired by Saintfiet Tom, we're thinking of uplift. So naturally, the 1983 tune from James Ingram and Michael McDonald comes to mind as Egypt start their ambition to win an eighth Cup of Nations. The Egypt boss Hossam Hassan was adamant that the Egypt skipper Mo Salah would be delivered of his recent travails at Liverpool by finding solace and redemption with the Pharoahs - as Egypt are nicknamed. When he's not doing so well on Merseyside, he plays blinders for us, is effectively Hassan's metaphysical shtick. Salah has won it all with Liverpool. But with the boys from his back yard? Nada. Unlike his boss. Hassan, who played for Egypt 176 times, lifted the Cup of Nations trophy on three occasions. Salah has walked past the crown twice. Cameroon outfoxed the Pharoahs in 2017 in the final and Senegal slugged them in the penalty shootout in 2022. "He needs to win the cup by helping us and by helping himself," said Hassan.
Broos goes back to the future
Hugo Broos orchestrated Mo Salah's heartbreak in 2017. The Belgian was then in charge of a Cameroon side he lauded for their esprit de corps. He told RFI (the review in dynamic reporter mode) that he had never seen anything like it in his 30-odd years of coaching. Well, nearly a decade on, Broos is back at the Cup of Nations with South Africa. At the 2023 tournament in Cote d'Ivoire, he steered the squad past the likes of Morocco to the semis where they had the better of the game against Nigeria but could not capitalise on the chances in front of goal. South Africa later topped their 2026 World Cup qualifying group which featured Nigeria. On the back of that success, Broos was asked whether he felt South Africa were among the favourites for the 2025 title. "Always dangerous to put yourself as a favourite," said the 73-year-old. "This tournament will be tougher than the last one in Cote d'Ivoire. Lots of the big countries went out early there and they've learned their lesson from that. They'll be there in the knockout stages."
