Tunisia delight in African triumph

FC Sochaux Montbéliard's Francileudo Dos Santos and Gaziantepspor's Ziad Jaziri were the goalscorers as hosts Tunisia won the African Cup of Nations for the first time with a 2-1 victory against Morocco in Rades.

Dos Santos scores
Tunisia, starting with eight European-based players, began in determined mood, and within just five minutes Brazilian-born striker Dos Santos - who only became eligible for his adopted nation in December - headed in a cross from Clayton to delight the home fans. That goal took Dos Santos to joint-top of the scorers table with four for the finals, along with Bolton Wanderers FC and Nigeria's Jay-Jay Okocha, Tottenham Hotspur FC and Mali's Frédéric Kanoute, and Cameroon's Patrick Mboma.

Morocco level
However, Morocco drew level seven minutes before the break when SC Bastia's Youssef Hadji crossed for Youssef Mokhtari of German 2. Bundesliga team SV Wacker Burghausen to send in a diving header for his own fourth goal of the finals. 

Victory secure
Tunisia kept the pressure on after half-time, and with only six minutes to go Turkish-based Jaziri pounced on the ball when Morocco goalkeeper Khalid Fouhami spilt a cross, and shot in to leave his nation as African champions.

Lemerre's joy
Tunisia's French coach Roger Lemerre said: "Above all I want to thank all the players, who every day kept the promises they made to me and they have achieved their objective. They have made history. So have the coaching staff and of course all Tunisians. The match is only a detail, today is a day of joy for the whole Tunisian nation and I am delighted about this historic moment. They did it."

European-based victors
Other European-based players in the victorious Tunisian lineup were FC Rouen goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel, AFC Ajax's Hatem Trabelsi, Gaziantepspor's Riadh Bouazizi, Real Racing Club Santander's Mehdi Nafti, Sochaux's Adel Chadli and Paris Saint-Germain FC's Slim Benachour.