The Atlas Lions of Morocco began their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign with an impressive 3-0 win over 10-man Tanzania at the San Pedro Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Given the Lions’ performance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where they reached the semi-finals, expectations were high for the North African team coming into this tournament, and they did not disappoint.

Half an hour into the Group F encounter, Romain Saiss opened the scoring for Morocco with a clean placing from a pass into the box. In the 70th minute, Tanzania were reduced to 10 men after Novatus Miroshi was shown a second yellow card for a bad foul.

This gave the Moroccan more advantage to get a tighter grip on the game, which they had been dominating prior, and doubled their lead seven minutes later through Azzedine Ounahi.

In the 80th minute, Youssef En-Nesyri sealed the victory for Morocco with his goal, which was initially ruled out for offside, but the decision was overturned by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

They move top of the group pending the second Group F game between DR Congo and Zambia.