Moroccan international Achraf Hakimi missed his penalty against South Africa on Tuesday. A failure which gives a little more weight to the words of his former coach Antonio Conte.
Morocco suffered a bitter disappointment during the round of 16 of CAN 2023 against South Africa (0-2) on Tuesday. Despite their status as favorites, the Atlas Lions, semi-finalists at the last World Cup in Qatar, did not achieve their objective.
Coach Walid Regragui had displayed his ambition to reach the semi-finals of this 34th edition of the African Cup of Nations. Unfortunately, the 1976 African champions faced a strong South African team.
“Hakimi, it’s really a pipe”
Achraf Hakimi and his teammates also experienced moments of bad luck, notably with the penalty missed by the right back of Paris Saint-Germain in the 85th minute. Following a handball from Teboho Mokoena in the penalty area, the former Borussia Dortmund member had the opportunity to equalize, but his shot hit the upright. A missed opportunity as Morocco trailed after a goal from Evidence Makgopa.
Hakimi’s lack of precision in this exercise had already been highlighted by his coach at Inter Milan, Antonio Conte. The latter had clearly expressed in April 2021 during a Serie A match between the Nerazzurri at Hellas Verona that the Moroccan star should not take penalties.
“The important thing is that he doesn’t take penalties,” said the Italian technician, smiling. On free kicks, everyone noticed that he has significant ballistic capabilities from afar. However, I see him at the end of training when he stops to take penalties with his teammates, and I think that if we were to get to that stage in a competition, everyone would have to die before letting Hakimi shoot. the penalty is really a blow, worse than me when I played…”
