Algeria beat Morocco on penalties in the WAFCON third-place play-off at the Olympic Stadium in Rabat — 1-1 after ninety minutes, 3-2 in the shootout — and take the first medal in their history.
Morocco, the hosts and runners-up in each of the last two editions, finish fourth at their own tournament.
There was no extra time: the third-place match goes straight to penalties once the ninety minutes are up.
Fifteen shots to none
The first half belonged to one team. Morocco had fifteen shots and 1.14 expected goals. Algeria had none at all, and reached the interval with that column still on zero.
The opener came out of it. On 37 minutes Hanane Aït El Haj set up Kautar Azraf for Morocco’s first goal since the quarter-final against South Africa eight days earlier. A second, by Maryame Atiq, was ruled out for a foul on 48 minutes.
Morocco finished with twenty-three shots, two off the woodwork and 2.30 expected goals. Algeria had six shots all night.
All six of Algeria’s shots came after the break
They were worth 1.09 expected goals, almost as much as Morocco’s fifteen first-half efforts. One player accounted for 0.90 of that total.
On 83 minutes Sofia Bekhaled, on as a substitute since the 68th, laid the ball off for Lina Boussaha to equalise. Boussaha had three shots; no other Algerian managed more than one.
Boussaha is 27 and plays for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, having previously been at Paris Saint-Germain, Lille and Le Havre. She represented France at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-20 level before committing to Algeria, making her senior debut in September 2023. Before the match she said what drove the squad was entering the history of the Algerian women’s national team, and that this was “a small final, but a final”.
Morocco still had the bronze at their feet in the seventh minute of stoppage time, when Nouhaila Benzina missed a penalty.
Six penalties, two goals
Algeria went first in the shootout and scored three of their five. Morocco scored two.
Counting the one in stoppage time, the hosts took six penalties on the night and converted two.
It is the second shootout they have lost in four days. On Wednesday they went out to Cameroon in the semi-final, also without scoring in open play, also from the spot, and also after missing a penalty — that one on 118 minutes.
Morocco arrived with the best defence in the tournament: one goal conceded in five matches. They end with two in six, and no medal. This is the third WAFCON they have hosted in a row, and they reached the final in the previous two.
Algeria were at their seventh. They had never gone beyond the quarter-finals until this year, and Wednesday’s semi-final against Malawi was the first in their history.
The bracket closes on Sunday with the final between Cameroon and Malawi.
