By Emmanuel Yaw Nkansah
Matchday 2 action from the ongoing U-17 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), which is live on GTV Sports+, saw Morocco claim what can only be described as a miraculous victory over Nigeria to grab a spot in the quarterfinal stage.
In the other Group B game, South Africa overcame Zambia in a thrilling goal fest to breathe life into their campaign.
After an absolutely dominant performance by Nigeria in a game where they totally bossed Morocco, controlled possession, and created 27 goalscoring opportunities, they somehow managed to lose in what can only be described as an embarrassing manner.
An own goal by Tochukwu Ogboji in the 2nd minute gave Morocco an early lead, which they hung onto for dear life till the end of the game as they somehow managed to weather the endless storm of attacks by Nigeria. With a whopping 67% percent of ball possession as well as 27 shots on goal compared to a measly 3 shots by Morocco over the course of 90 minutes, Nigeria can only blame themselves for their failure to get a favourable result.
South Africa and Zambia served an excellent feast of football for the neutrals in the second Group B fixture as they played out a five-goal thriller which saw South Africa emerge on top after 90 minutes of breathless action. Vicky Mkhawana put South Africa ahead with a brilliant volley 12 minutes into the match. Just after the half-hour mark, South Africa were 2-0 up thanks to Mkhawana, who latched onto a pass from Siyabonga Mabena and fired past the Zambian goalie. It was nearly 2-1 barely three minutes later, but Obvious Mwaliteta’s header struck the bar.
With the game tilting firmly in South Africa’s favour, Ian Bakala made two substitutions for his Zambian side 40 minutes into the game and almost immediately profited. Emmanuel Mwanza pulled back for Zambia on the stroke of halftime. Three minutes into the second half, Zambia were level. Mwanza the scorer once again after he curled a shot in from the edge of the box. After leveling the score, Zambia gradually assumed a dominant position in the game yet failed to grab the all-important winning goal and were made to pay for their inability to bag the winner. Michael Dokunmu scored the winning goal for South Africa at the 76th-minute mark, securing a 3-2 triumph for the Young Bafana Bafana.
Morocco will take on a Zambian side desperate for a win to give them a chance of making it out of the group stage on Friday night, while Nigeria and South Africa slug it out, also on Friday night, for the chance to secure automatic qualification to the quarterfinals.
The U-17 AFCON is live on GTV Sports+ with prematch discussion hosted by Akosua Adjei.