{"id":22310,"date":"2026-01-12T11:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T09:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/afcon-2025-semi-finals-set-as-nigeria-face-morocco-egypt-meet-senegal\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:33:19","slug":"afcon-2025-semi-finals-set-as-nigeria-face-morocco-egypt-meet-senegal","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/afcon-2025-semi-finals-set-as-nigeria-face-morocco-egypt-meet-senegal\/","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2025 semi-finals set as Nigeria face Morocco, Egypt meet Senegal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is reaching the decisive stage, with two high-profile semi-final clashes scheduled for Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In what is expected to be a fiercely contested encounter, Nigeria will take on tournament hosts Morocco in Rabat. The Super Eagles are aiming to reach another AFCON final but face a tough test against a Moroccan side backed by home support and strong recent form.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the day, former champions Senegal will face Egypt in a repeat of the 2021 final. Egypt booked their place in the last four after ending Ivory Coast\u2019s reign as champions with a dramatic 3\u20132 victory in Saturday\u2019s quarter-final in Agadir.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The North Africans will be looking for revenge after losing the 2021 AFCON final to Senegal on penalties in Yaound\u00e9, following a 0\u20130 draw after extra time. Senegal went on to lift their first continental title with a 4\u20132 shootout win.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Egypt Captain Mohamed Salah says the team is fully prepared for the challenge ahead. The 33-year-old, who has represented his country for more than a decade, said he and his teammates are ready to give everything on the pitch in pursuit of another AFCON final appearance.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Salah added that experience remains Egypt\u2019s key strength, stressing the importance of guiding younger players and maintaining fighting spirit against opponents who compete regularly at the highest level in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22311,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-22310","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"AFCON is reaching the decisive stage","published_date":"2026-01-12 13:16:52","news_description":"AFCON is reaching the decisive stage","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25651,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22310\/revisions\/25651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=22310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}