Amrabat gets ban after Bafana red card

Morocco midfielder Sofyan Amrabat has been handed a two match suspension after the red card he collected at the Africa Cup of Nations against South Africa in January and will miss his country’s next two World Cup qualifiers, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Amrabat was sent off after holding back Tebego Mokoena, a decision that the referee made only after a VAR review, when the two countries met in their last-16 clash at San Pedro on January 30.

Mokoena blasted home a perfect freekick from the subsequent foul to hand Bafana Bafana a shock 2-0 win over the pre-tournament favourites, who had been World Cup semifinalists some 13 months earlier.

Amrabat was one of the stars of Morocco‘s run to the last four at the World Cup in Qatar and was bought by Manchester United at the start of the season from Fiorentina in Serie A.

The 27-year-old Amrabat now misses the World Cup qualifiers at home to Zambia and away in the Congo in June. He did feature for Morocco in March in their friendly win over Angola in Agadir.