{"id":20575,"date":"2026-01-13T11:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/20575\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:04:07","slug":"nigerias-alex-iwobi-calls-morocco-strong-team-very-scary-before-afcon-semifinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/20575\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s Alex Iwobi Calls Morocco \u2018Strong Team, Very Scary\u2019 Before AFCON Semifinal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rabat \u2013 Nigeria midfielder Alex Iwobi, who plays for Fulham in the Premier League, spoke openly on social media about the challenge ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said he watched Morocco\u2019s convincing win over Cameroon in the quarter-final and was impressed by their strength and intensity. \u201cMorocco are a strong team, very scary,\u201d Iwobi admitted during a live broadcast on his social media. \u201cNow we face them directly. It will be a frightening match.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria reached the last four after a solid 2\u20130 win over Algeria in Marrakech, with goals from Victor Osimhen and Akor Adams. The Super Eagles are chasing their third AFCON title, having last won in 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Morocco, meanwhile, are aiming to lift the trophy for the first time since 1976, and as hosts they carry the weight of expectation from their fans<\/p>\n<p>The semifinal will be <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moroccoworldnews.com\/2026\/01\/274657\/atlas-lions-continue-to-put-in-work-at-maamora-ahead-of-nigeria-semi-final\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">played<\/a> on Wednesday, January 14, at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, kicking off at 9 p.m. local time (GMT+1).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Morocco\u2019s squad includes stars such as Achraf Hakimi (PSG), Noussair Mazraoui (Manchester United), Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid), and striker Youssef En-Nesyri (Fenerbah\u00e7e).<\/p>\n<p>With both teams in strong form, the match promises to be one of the most intense meetings of the tournament, as the Super Eagles look to end their long wait for continental glory while Morocco aim to deliver a historic triumph on home soil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabat \u2013 Nigeria midfielder Alex Iwobi, who plays for Fulham in the Premier League, spoke openly on social&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[1428,411,527,3165,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-20575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nigeria","8":"tag-2025-afcon","9":"tag-afcon","10":"tag-afcon-2025","11":"tag-morocco-natioal-team","12":"tag-nigeria"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}