Niger, Morocco play for pride
Both Niger and Morocco have nothing but pride to play for when they meet for their final Africa Cup of Nations Group C match in Libreville on Tuesday evening.
Both sides suffered last-minute defeats on Friday – Niger at the hands of Tunisia, Morocco against Nations Cup co-hosts Gabon – meaning they cannot mathematically progress into the last eight.
This match, therefore, is all about pride: going out of the tournament on a high and looking to avoid ending bottom of the group.
For Niger, debutants in the biennial continental tournament, avoiding the wooden spoon would represent a more than respectable performance considering the resources they have at their disposal.
As for Morocco, one of the teams talked up as potential dark horses for the title, they may struggle to motivate themselves for this match after the disappointment of narrow defeats to Tunisia and Gabon.
The Atlas Lions’ Belgian coach, Eric Gerets, has already stated that he would like to keep his job despite his side’s failure at the tournament. He will reportedly make several changes to the line-up that did duty against Gabon, with Mustapha Mrani and Abdelfettah Boukhriss set to start.
"We are playing for pride for Morocco and for the future, because we are not going back to Morocco without a win," said Gerets.
Mena’s William Tonji Ngounou, who scored the country’s first ever Nations Cup goal in the defeat to Tunisia, is hopeful his side can defeat their North African opponents.
"It would be nice to go home with three points and not at the bottom of the group, so it's an important game for us," he told BBC Sport.
Kick-off is at 20h00 SA time.