Morocco’s African Cup Qualifier Postponed in Wake of Deadly Earthquake

 A view shows a damaged building on the road between Amizmiz and Ouirgane, following a powerful earthquake in Morocco, September 9, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged building on the road between Amizmiz and Ouirgane, following a powerful earthquake in Morocco, September 9, 2023. (Reuters)
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Morocco’s African Cup Qualifier Postponed in Wake of Deadly Earthquake

 A view shows a damaged building on the road between Amizmiz and Ouirgane, following a powerful earthquake in Morocco, September 9, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged building on the road between Amizmiz and Ouirgane, following a powerful earthquake in Morocco, September 9, 2023. (Reuters)

Morocco's qualifying game for the African Cup of Nations was postponed on Saturday in the wake of the earthquake that struck the country, killing more than 1,000 people.

Morocco had been scheduled to play Liberia in Agadir on the country's western coast, but the Moroccan soccer federation said the game had been postponed indefinitely after an agreement with the Confederation of African Football.

The earthquake that struck late Friday night also damaged buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech.

Agadir is roughly 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of the epicenter of Friday’s tremor near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province.

The Gambian national team was in Marrakech during the earthquake ahead of a decisive qualifying game against Congo on Sunday. Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet told BBC World Service that he initially thought an airplane had crashed into the team's hotel.

"It seems it was only 30 seconds but it felt endless. It was really scary," Saintfiet said. "The walls were really shaking and things were falling down from the ceiling and the walls. I never in my life saw a building moving like that. When it stopped, I started running and checking if my team members were also out of their rooms."

No team members were reported injured.

Marrakech was hosting the game because of stadium problems in Gambia. CAF did not immediately respond to an email about the status of Sunday's match.

Morocco star player Achraf Hakimi took to social media to offer his condolences to victims of the earthquake.

"It is time to help each other to save as many lives as possible. My condolences to all who lost a loved one," Hakimi wrote on Instagram.

The magnitude-6.8 quake was the biggest to hit the North African country in 120 years.

On Friday morning, the Morocco team arrived in Agadir and then trained at Adrar Stadium in the afternoon.

The Atlas Lions made a historic run at last year's World Cup in Qatar, becoming the first African team to reach the semifinals, where they lost to France.

Morocco has already qualified for the 24-team African tournament, which begins in January in Ivory Coast.

The team was also scheduled to play a friendly match in France against Burkina Faso on Tuesday.



Liverpool Beats Lille to Reach Champions League Round of 16. Barcelona Wins 9-goal Thriller

Soccer Football - Champions League - Liverpool v Lille - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 21, 2025 Liverpool's Harvey Elliott celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring their second goal. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Soccer Football - Champions League - Liverpool v Lille - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 21, 2025 Liverpool's Harvey Elliott celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring their second goal. REUTERS/Phil Noble
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Liverpool Beats Lille to Reach Champions League Round of 16. Barcelona Wins 9-goal Thriller

Soccer Football - Champions League - Liverpool v Lille - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 21, 2025 Liverpool's Harvey Elliott celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring their second goal. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Soccer Football - Champions League - Liverpool v Lille - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 21, 2025 Liverpool's Harvey Elliott celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring their second goal. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Liverpool became the first team to guarantee a place in the last 16 of the new Champions League format by beating Lille 2-1 on Tuesday, while Barcelona fought back from two goals down to stun Benfica 5-4 in a thriller.
Harvey Elliott's bouncing, deflected shot gave Liverpool its seventh win from seven games, just after 10-man Lille had equalized following Mohamed Salah's opening goal, The Associated Press reported.
Liverpool needed a point at Anfield to be sure of reaching the round of 16 as one of the top eight teams in the league stage, skipping the playoff round for teams ranked ninth to 24th.
Salah raced through in the 34th minute to sweep Liverpool ahead with his 22nd goal in all competitions this season. And when Lille’s Aissa Mandi was sent off just before the hour mark, Liverpool looked certain to extend its 100% record in the league phase.
But Anfield was stunned when Canada striker Jonathan David converted from close range to level the score in the 62nd. It didn’t take long for Liverpool to regain the lead through Elliott’s deflected effort five minutes later.
Barcelona's comeback win Raphinha scored in stoppage time to complete a rousing comeback as Barcelona beat Benfica in Lisbon despite having been 4-2 down with less than a quarter of an hour remaining.
Benfica's Vangelis Pavlidis scored the third-fastest hat trick at the start of a Champions League game, with two of his goals coming after errors by Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Barcelona stays second with 18 points from seven games.
Another Spanish club staged a comeback as Julian Alvarez scored a 90th-minute winner to lift Atletico Madrid past Bayer Leverkusen 2-1. Atletico lost Pablo Barrios to a 23rd-minute red card and went into half time 1-0 down to a Piero Hincapie header for Leverkusen.
Alvarez scored in the 52nd and had the momentum when Hincapie was sent off for a second yellow card, before Alvarez struck again to take the win and lift Atletico to third.
Villa slides out of the top eight With Prince William watching on, Aston Villa’s hopes of automatic qualification for the round of 16 took a blow after a 1-0 loss to Monaco.
Villa led the standings early in the league phase of the competition after winning its first three games. But defeat to Monaco left the Premier League club eighth. Wilfried Singo’s goal at a corner in the eighth minute was enough to secure the win for ninth-place Monaco.
Dortmund slump continues Borussia Dortmund's 2-1 loss at Bologna increased the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin in Dortmund's fourth consecutive loss at the start of the new year in all competitions.
Serhou Guirassy gave Dortmund the lead with a chipped penalty and ran to celebrate with Sahin.
It looked like the Champions League could provide a much-needed boost for a team floundering in the Bundesliga, but two goals in two minutes from Thijs Dallinga and Samuel Iling-Junior changed the game for previously winless Bologna.
Atalanta beat Austria's Sturm Graz 5-0, strengthening the Italian club's push to qualify directly for the round of 16. Atalanta finished the evening fourth.
PSV Eindhoven hung on for a 3-2 win at Red Star Belgrade despite losing defender Flamingo to a red card just after halftime while leading 3-0. Stuttgart eased to a 3-1 win over Slovan Bratislava, which has lost all seven of its games. Club Brugge and Juventus drew 0-0.
Europa League: In the only Europa League game of the night, Galatasaray missed a chance to go third in the table, giving up a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 with last-place Dynamo Kyiv.