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The the Moroccan side overcame a jittery beginning to beat their island opponents in the tournament's opening game on the weekend, after strikes by Brahim Díaz and super-sub Ayoub El Kaabi in the second half.

It was a hardly emphatic showing, however, from the heavily tipped hosts, who are ranked 97 places higher than the small island nation in the world rankings and were forced to work tirelessly for the points in wet conditions at the Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium.

Nervy Start and Spurned Chances

The hosts missed an first-half penalty and were locked at 0-0 at half-time even with dominating the ball, finally opening the scoring in the 55th minute.

It arrived after full-back Mazraoui did well to prevent the ball from going out before slipping it across for Díaz to calmly pass into the net.

Every opening game is invariably tough but we came good in the second half,” said Morocco coach Regragui.

El Kaabi's Piece of Brilliance

The tension was subsequently extinguished by a piece of pure individual brilliance from Ayoub El Kaabi. Only 10 minutes following coming on, the forward connected with a ball into the box with a acrobatic overhead kick in the 74th minute, making it two and ensuring the win.

Before that, the Moroccan team might have taken the lead in the 11th minute when a spot-kick was awarded for a foul on Brahim Díaz. Yet, Rahimi's penalty was saved by keeper Pandor.

Comoros Resistance and Second-Half Chance

Comoros stoutly defended against their more illustrious opponents at bay until the Moroccans' superior firepower eventually told.

Shot-stopper Yannick Pandor made a number of further good stops to keep down the scoreline as the match wore on, although his team did have a clear opportunity for an equalizer shortly following Díaz's goal, with Saïd firing directly into Morocco goalkeeper Bounou.

Injury Concern for Hosts

The victory was somewhat marred by an apparent injury to Morocco's skipper, Romain Saïss, who was forced off after the 18th minute apparently in some distress.

This centre-back had only returned to the national side last month following a year’s layoff due to a serious ankle operation.

This result continues the team's historic run of consecutive victories to 19, beating the previous best of 15 set by the Spanish national team from 2008 and 2009.