During this match played at the Manahan stadium in Surakarta, coach Saïd Chiba‘s team tried to lock down their zone against a Malian team which monopolized the ball.
Mali had the best chances in the first half. From the 6th minute, Ibrahim Kanaté found himself face to face with the Moroccan goalkeeper Taha Benghozil, who managed to masterfully save his top corner.
Four minutes later, Hamidou Makalou fired a nice shot at the edge of the Moroccan area which pushed Benghozil to pull out all the stops to keep the two teams tied.
Following a Malian collective action in the 24th minute, Ange Martial infiltrates the penalty area and beats Benghozil, but his attempt is blocked by defender Saifdine Chlaghmo.
In the second period, the Moroccans continued to let the Malians take the game into their own hands, while trying to surprise them with counter-attacks.
At the end of one of these counter-attacks, Ayman Ennair dribbles past the Malian goalkeeper Bourama Kone before delivering a lateral pass which does not find the attacker Nassim Azaouzi (62nd).
The match was then more balanced, with the Malian team struggling to find solutions in front of a solid Moroccan block aligned in 4-2-3-1.
Mali nevertheless managed to find the fault in the Moroccan defense in the 81st minute through Ibrahim Diarra.
The National Eleven could have equalized in the last minutes of play from a corner, but Adam Boufandar’s header went wide of the Malian goalkeeper’s left post (90+1).
In the semi-final scheduled for Tuesday at the Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, the Malian selection will face its French counterpart, who eliminated Uzbekistan (1 – 0).