It’s the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday as Senegal face Egypt and Nigeria take on hosts Morocco. I was fortunate to see Senegal and Nigeria last week, two teams with big followings in Morocco. But it’s all about Morocco – the country comes alive when live football is on, as we found out in Tangier after Senegal defeated Mali on Friday. Every bar was full, the occupants almost entirely male. I wondered how the establishments survived financially, given that most of the customers weren’t buying any food or drinks.
Morocco, Africa’s highest-ranked country and semi-finalists at the last World Cup in Qatar, have only been continental champions once. With elite players throughout their team, they are favourites to go all the way on home soil.
I left Tangier for the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Saturday morning, intending to take a shared taxi as I’d done in Tunisia last year. But after checking the price on the InDrive app it was only €20 for the 90-minute drive. A guard at the hotel told me it was illegal and that I shouldn’t be using the app. But everyone I’d met in Morocco was using it.
My driver came in a battered old car and shook his head
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