After their last game where the Home Eagles barely made it past Angola in a measly manner, you’d think the Eagles had learned their lesson and would put up more than just an ordinary fight at the finals of the African Nations Championship in Casablanca on Sunday.
The Eagles who went into the final against Morocco quite confident were like the after effect of a gong sound; everywhere but nowhere.
Losing chances and making wrong calls was the order of the day for the lackluster Eagles as swift to kill Morocco left no stones in-place bashing them to oblivion.
It was a game of wit, and Atlas Lions roared fear into the hearts of the Eagles as they put in their fourth goal and became the CHAN 2018 champions, and also the fourth different winners of the title in a row, joining DR Congo, Tunisia and Libya on the honors board.
The warning signs were quite visible to the Eagles at the early minutes of the game when  Ayoub El Kaabi headed home from Ismail Haddad’s corner kick but the goal was flagged offside. Apparently the Home Eagles needed another sign to understand what was to come, Morocco, however, was not in the business of ‘handing out tracts’ as the Atlas Lions proved their dominance at the brink of half-time when Zakaria Hadraf pulled a stunner that found its way to the back of the net after Banoune and Jbira had combined neatly on the left flank.
There was no sign of ‘rain’ for the Eagles as they walked deeper into the desert when they were cut down to 10-men as Peter Moses, who was already on a yellow card, scythed down Mohamed Nahiri early in the second half and was sent off for a second caution.
The Lions would then take full advantage of this opening when Walid El Karti doubled their lead on the hour mark with a rebound header after Ajiboye saved Had dad’s shot.
This was the point when Fans lost hope in the idea of Nigeria being the 2018 CHAN champions as Hadraf scored a brace to make the scores 3-0.
Maybe the Eagles should have doubled back on their defense line and safe themselves the humiliation. However, El Kaabi would not leave the match without making a strike as he lynched onto a shot from Nahiri in the 73rd minute, to end the match 4-0.
