WAFCON 2026: Cameroon Edge Morocco In Dramatic Shootout To Reach Final

Indomitable Lionesses knocks Morocco out of WAFCON

Indomitable Lionesses break shootout curse to reach WAFCON final. Bihina’s heroics send Cameroon to final after penalty shootout win over Morocco. 

Bihina saves 3 penalties as Cameroon knock out hosts Morocco...

Cameroon knocked Morocco out on penalties to book a spot in the WAFCON final against Malawi. 

The Atlas Lionesses won’t be in the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations final after losing 3-1 on penalties to the Indomitable Lionesses. The semi-final finished 0-0 in normal time.

It’s another big result for Cameroon. They’d already eliminated Nigeria in the quarter-finals and then took down tournament favorites Morocco in the last four. Up next, they face Malawi, who are in the final after a shock run in their very first Africa Cup of Nations appearance.

Just two minutes in, Morocco got things started when Hanane Ait El Haj delivered a cross. Michaely Bihina got to it first and punched it away before Sanaa Mssoudy could take a shot.

Ghizlane Chebbak then threaded a great ball into the box for Ibtissam Jraidi. The Moroccans were calling for handball against Maeva Nyadjou after Sakina Ouzraoui’s first effort. The referee went to VAR but gave the ball back to Michaely Bihina, who looked to get Cameroon moving again.

Naomi Eto made Cameroon’s first real opening, cutting in from the right and firing at goal herself. Khadija Er-Rmichi was equal to it and made the save.

Morocco had the crowd on their feet next when Aït El Haj delivered another perfect cross. Mssoudy met it with a header that beat Bihina but crashed off the post. Eto went for goal again moments later, but her effort was blocked inside the area.

Jraidi answered straight away with a shot of her own, only for it to be blocked too before Bihina collected comfortably in the 26th minute. Ouzraoui was causing problems down the right as well, but her run was stopped in the 27th when she was penalized for a foul on Monique Ngock.

It was Ouzraoui again who tried to find Jraidi after some good work on the right, but Morocco’s number 9 couldn’t hold onto the ball in the 33rd minute. Morocco dominated possession with 68%, yet they couldn’t really create clear chances. That included a free-kick in the 40th that Bihina claimed comfortably. Right before the break, Élodie Nakkach had a go from distance in the 45th, and Bihina needed two tries to secure it.

Penalty? Saved. Penalty? Saved. Penalty? Saved. Penalty? Saved. Michaely. 🧤🇨🇲#TotalEnergiesWAFCON2026 pic.twitter.com/CqPko6wx9j

— CAF Women Football (@CAFwomen) August 13, 2026

Stalemate Drags Into Extra Time

Cameroon looked more threatening after the restart, but neither side could break through and the game headed to extra time.  

Morocco won a promising free-kick through the center early in the half, but Ait El Haj couldn’t keep it on target. Mrabet also missed the mark with her header from the follow-up. Cameroon hit back on the break as Achta Toko Njoya whipped in a cross that landed straight in Errmichi’s hands. The Moroccan keeper was busy again, denying Marie Ngah Manga’s soft header. At the other end, Bihina was alert too, plucking a looping cross from Ait El Haj out of the air.

The clearest opening of the second half went to Mssoudy. She cut in from the left and let fly with a powerful strike that rattled the side netting. A lot of the 19,000 Moroccan fans in the stadium thought it had gone in.

Bihina got a fright when she spilled an Ouzraoui cross but scrambled to recover it just in time. Cameroon kept pushing and Eto delivered a cross that almost picked out Ngah Manga inside the box.

As the clock ran down, Morocco started to cede possession and let the Indomitable Lionesses dictate play. Grace Mendoua almost made them pay, but she couldn’t get the ball under control. Looking to change things, Jorge Vilda turned to his bench and brought on Imane Saoud, Najat Badri and Fatima Tagnaout one after the other.

Cameroon came close again when a cross aimed at Mendoua was dealt with by Errmichi. Then Toko nearly put through her own net after a rushed clearance under pressure from Ouzraoui, but Bihina bailed her out. Saoud had back-to-back chances to open the scoring right after that, only to be stopped first by a defender and then by the Cameroonian keeper.

Ouzraoui was causing problems in the box and looked like she might take on every Cameroonian defender herself before shooting. She ran into three of them though and thought better of it. Tagnaout was picked out with a cut-back and squared it for Mssoudy, who somehow missed from close range at the back post.

Maryame Atiq came up with a crucial challenge to stop Michaela Abam, who had broken free after a chaotic finish to normal time and was charging toward the Moroccan goal. Cameroon’s savior was Bihina again — she rushed off her line to snuff out Ouzraoui’s run just as she was about to go through on goal for a potential golden goal. That sent it to extra time.

Nyadjou And Bihina Stand Firm For Cameroon

Extra time got off to a slow start with hardly any chances. The first real moment came in the 96th minute when Saoud’s cross found Bihina after a few breaks for cramp. Fadimatou Aretouyap Kome then drove into the Moroccan area and cut inside, but overhit her pass. Abam picked up the loose ball and earned a corner. From Kome’s delivery to the back post, Abam was there again but Errmichi blocked her shot.

Tagnaout whipped in a sharp corner from the byline and Atiq rose highest, yet her header sailed over the Cameroon bar. Ouzraoui went down under a challenge from Myriam Nyadjou inside the box and asked for a penalty. The contact was minimal and clearly accidental, with both players going for the ball.

But VAR intervened and sent the referee to the screen. After watching it back, he changed his mind and gave the penalty. Tagnaout stepped up in place of Ait El Haj, but her spot-kick was struck at mid-height and lacked pace. Bihina reacted fast, diving to push it away. Another massive save from her.

It came down to penalties to decide it. Aït El Haj, now captain after Chebbak came off, went first and rolled in a calm Panenka. Ngah answered for Cameroon with the same composure to make it 1-1.

Kenza Chapelle, who’d come on right before the shootout, went for mid-height to the left but Bihina got across and pushed it away for her first penalty save. Mendoua was off target too, and Errmichi had to stretch to keep her shot out.

No celebration was ever more expressive. Shot Cameroon straight to the final. 🤩🇨🇲#TotalEnergiesWAFCON2026 pic.twitter.com/utJsVFFcXS

— CAF Women Football (@CAFwomen) August 12, 2026

Atiq met the same end as Chapelle, Bihina leapt the other way and pulled off a brilliant stop. Bella Rose stepped up and put Cameroon ahead, 2-1. Then Bihina did it again, denying Ouzraoui for a third save as she was absolutely in the zone. And it was Nyadjou, 21, who had already scored the winner from a free-kick against Nigeria in the quarters, who slotted the final penalty to send the Indomitable Lionesses into the Africa Cup of Nations final.

Cameroon finally broke their shootout curse. Before this one, they’d lost all three of their Africa Cup of Nations penalty shootouts back in 1998, 2008 and 2018. Morocco, by contrast, had won their last two AFCON semi-finals on penalties.

The Indomitable Lionesses owe it to Michaely Bihina. She was already the hero against Nigeria, and she saved three spot-kicks in this shootout, plus Tagnaout’s penalty right at the end of extra time.

Credit also goes to the expansion of the Africa Cup of Nations, which was confirmed just a few months before this tournament, the edition that got pushed to the summer. That change let Cameroon qualify through the FIFA coefficient. They’ll now meet Malawi, another surprise package, in the final. Morocco will drop into the third-place match against Algeria on Saturday.