FILE 005 — Tangier, October 4, 2026: The Record of a 1-1
FILE 005. The archive keeps what the noise forgets. Date: October 4, 2026. Venue: the Grand Stade de Tanger, Tangier, Morocco. Occasion: international friendly, the final match of the October international break. The facts, as recorded: Morocco 1, Mali 1. Morocco's goal came in the 35th minute. Abde Ezzalzouli won the penalty and converted it himself. 1-0 to the hosts at the interval. Mali's answer arrived in the 77th. Gaoussou Diarra, striking from the left side of the penalty area, leveled the match at 1-1. The score did not move again. Post-match, Morocco's head coach declined to assign the result to any single player. The responsibility, he said, belonged to the group as a whole. Context for the record: the draw closed Morocco's international break and cost the Atlas Lions a place in the FIFA rankings, dropping them to sixth. Both sides had opened their Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifying campaigns with back-to-back wins. Both now turn toward the resumption o...