African Nations Cup: Tunisia 2 - 1 Morocco
Thousands descended into central Tunis to celebrate a victory that, 39 years after Tunisia lost a home final to Ghana, had been a long time coming.
"This is the consecration of so much hard work," said their goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel. "This group never flinched and now we have written something on the blank page that was Tunisia's roll of honour."
Goals at the start of each half from the strike pair Silva Dos Santos and Zied Jaziri took the fight out of Morocco and won the Carthage Eagles their first African title. Though Jaziri's winner owed everything to a goalkeeping error by Khaled Fouhami after Youssef Mokhtari had equalised for Morocco, Tunisia really should have won by more.
Their manager Roger Lemerre has done much to restore his reputation: the Euro 2000 winner with France had been sacked after presiding over the 2002 World Cup fiasco. "I would like to say thanks to all my players," he said. "They've respected my position since the start and now they've made history for themselves."
Tunisia's determination to do just that was evident both from Lemerre's appointment and in the fast-tracked naturalisation of the Brazilian striker Dos Santos. His speed and finishing were invaluable commodities for a side that has always lacked a top-notch striker. After three goals in his first two group games Dos Santos had failed to register since but within five minutes of kick-off here he had given Tunisia the lead.
Slim Ben Achour's corner was only partially cleared by the Morocco defence and the impressive Mehdi Nafti whipped the ball back into the penalty area on the run. Dos Santos, one of the smallest men on the pitch, was allowed to leap unchallenged to plant a firm header past Fouhami.
Up until the final the Moroccan defence had barely put a foot wrong but none of their three centre-backs had the pace to deal with Dos Santos and Jaziri. Both strikers spurned decent chances to increase Tunisia's lead before Adel Chadli missed a sitter.
The one-way traffic could not last and after 38 minutes Morocco were level. For once the Atlas Lions' passing was crisp and Youssef Hadji's neat cross was followed by a sumptuous diving header by Mokhtari. It was the midfielder's fourth of the tournament, bringing him level at the top of the goalscorers' chart with Dos Santos, Patrick Mboma, Jay-Jay Okocha and Frédéric Kanouté.
"When we equalised I thought they looked tired," said Morocco's Walid Regragui. "We dominated play for 15 minutes but then they scored that unfortunate goal and that was it."
Unfortunate is not the word. Jose Clayton, another naturalised Brazilian, delivered a cross-shot of no real force that the flapping Fouhami steered to Jaziri for a simple tap-in.
After so many years of waiting the cup was theirs. Now they need to convince Lemerre to stay - he has so far refused to comment about his future. But that is a question for later when the celebrations have finally died down.
Tunisia (4-3-1-2): Boumnijel; Trabelsi, Hagui, Jaidi, Clayton; Bouazizi, Nafti (Mnari, h-t), Chadli; Benachour (Ghodhbane, 57); Jaziri (Mhadhebi, 70), Dos Santos.
Morocco (3-5-2): Fouhami; Ouaddou, Naybet, El Karkouri; Regragui, Kaissi, Safri (Yaacoubi, 64), Mokhtari, Roumani (Zairi, 73); Chammakh, Y Hadji (Baha, 87).
Referee: F Ndoye (Senegal).