Sofyan Amrabat Sent Off Twice As South Africa Eliminate Morocco From AFCON 2023

• Sofyan Amrabat was bizarrely sent off twice during Morocco's clash against South Africa
• The number-one ranked nation in Africa suffered a major upset as they exited the competition
• We take a look at why the referee had to recall Amrabat only to send him off again

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations claimed another casualty after South Africa eliminated Morocco in the round of 16 on January 30.

The North African giants were overwhelming favourites to win the trophy after reaching the World Cup semifinals over a year ago.

Morocco vs South Africa match report

They were, however, undone by a resolute Bafana Bafana, who scored two second-half goals to qualify for the quarter-finals. Evidence Makgopa opened the scoring in the 57th minute before Teboho Mokoena curled in a brilliant freekick deep into stoppage time to produce another upset at the tournament.

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Achraf Hakimi missed an opportunity to level things up in the 87th minute after he slammed his penalty onto the crossbar.

Apart from the goals, there was a bizarre moment in injury time after Sofyan Amrabat was sent off twice by the centre referee.

The Manchester United midfielder committed a last-man foul, with referee Mahmood Ismail showing him a yellow card. It was his second bookable offence after he had initially been booked in the 64th minute.

As Amrabat trudged off the pitch, Ismail was summoned by the VAR to review the incident, leaving fans and the 27-year-old himself confused.

The VAR is not used to check second yellow card offences. As it turns out, the VAR had summoned the referee to look into the possibility of rescinding his yellow card decision and upgrading it to a direct red card.

Why Amrabat was sent off twice

Replays showed that apart from being the last man, the Moroccan denied Hugo Broos' charge a clear goal-scoring opportunity(DOGSO). IFAB laws of the game state that a player will be sent off if the case of;

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"Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent whose overall movement is towards the offender’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick."

Amrabat's offence was, therefore, liable for a direct red card and not a caution. He was recalled by the referee and sent off for the second time before Mokoena scored the freekick.

To put it into context, a direct red card carries a suspension of at least three games unless stated otherwise. While two yellow cards only carry a one-game suspension. Given that Walid Regragui's side are out of the tournament, Amrabat will serve his suspension during their World Cup qualifier games in June.

AFCON 2023 quarter-final matches

Now that the round of 16 matches are over, Sports Brief has taken an in-depth look at the quarter-final pairings.

No team that made it to the quarter-finals stage of the 2021 edition made it back, with favourites Morocco, Egypt and Senegal all going out early.

Nigeria will face Angola in the first match on February 2 before DR Congo take on Guinea.