Group D is known to be the “group of death' of this tournament. Both teams, Morocco and Cote d'Ivoire managed to secure their first three points in the AFCON. With no doubt, the second round of this group stage was an early final as both tried to secure the first position of the group to avoid any tricky games in the 16th round. The Atlas Lions showed their true colors in the second game against Cote d'Ivoire beating them 1-0 on Friday. Herve Renard got his team to plays some phenomenal football in the first half as he succeeded to keep Cote d'Ivoire's forwards away from Yassine Bouno's net. Cote d'Ivoire's players had only one massive opportunity to score by Jonthan Kodja, however, it was cleared from the goal's by Morocco's centre back Roman Sais. Ahram online spoke to Morocco's defender Achraf Hakimi post the game. “We were way better in both halves, surely we deserve the win. Morocco showed that they are a solid team. I am so happy for the win especially that we gave joy for the fans whom were here supporting us.” Also, Ahram online talked to Morocco's left back Nabil Dirar. Ahram asked Dirar, how did Morocco managed to keep two clean sheets in their games in the AFCON. “We know that we have a very good defending team. We knew that Cote d'Ivoire have great attacker and forward players but we managed to keep them away of our team's net. We played on counter attacks and luck was by our side and we won the game.” Mubarak Boussoufa spoke to Ahram online. “It is so important to keep clean sheets, however it wasn't easy as we played against a tough side. But also, we were good at the offense and the most important that we have six points now.” Despite their loss against Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire still got a major chance to qualify to the second round and go further in this competition. Cote d'Ivoire striker Wilfried Bony spoke to Ahram online. “We didn't play good against Morocco. We have to prepare ourselves well for the next game against South Africa. We had only two chances today but I can't say that we were unlucky. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
