By Emmanuel Yaw Nkansah
The 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations (AFCON) continued with action from Group B, where Nigeria edged a tight fixture against Zambia and Morocco showed a lethal touch against South Africa to claim a hard-fought victory, while in Group C, Mali secured a narrow win over Burkina Faso.
Nigeria kicked off their campaign in Group B with a win against Zambia in a game that was tightly contested and, quite honestly, could have gone either way. Nigeria had an early goal disallowed after Abubakar Abdullahi was flagged offside in the 13th minute. Precious Samwei’s attempt on goal in the 39th minute was also deflected onto the woodwork by the Zambian keeper, as Nigeria looked the more threatening of the two sides in the first half.
Three minutes into the second half, however, Zambia had a glorious chance to score, but Emmanuel Mwanza’s curling effort struck the crossbar. With Zambia gaining control of the game, they fashioned a few scoring opportunities but were unable to get the breakthrough goal. That inability to capitalise on their chances cost them dearly when Nigeria took the lead in the 76th-minute courtesy of a strike from Favour Daniel. The Golden Eaglets could have doubled their lead in the 89th minute, but Light Eke’s penalty attempt was easily saved by the Zambian goalie. Zambia could have drawn level in injury time but were unable to find the crucial final touch to put Marcel Zimba’s cross into the back of the empty Nigerian net.
Morocco took on South Africa in the second Group B game at the Stade Mohamed-Hamlaoui, and despite being dominated by their opponents, a second-half resurgence saw them put two past the South Africans to start their campaign on a good note. South Africa started the game brightly, dominating possession and creating all the best scoring opportunities as the Moroccans looked rattled and disorganised. Mamelodi Sundowns prodigy Siyabonga Mabena was at the heart of the South African offensive, creating chances for his teammates to score and weaving his way through the Moroccan defense with almost casual ease, causing a lot of problems for Morocco. All that, however, was for nought as South Africa failed to make the most of their opportunities and were duly punished for that profligacy by a much improved and organised Moroccan side in the second half. A handball offense by Benjamin Wallis gave Morocco a chance to take the lead from the spot in the 73rd minute, and Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal made no mistake from the spot as he buried his effort in the back of the South African net. Buoyed by their lead, Morocco grew in confidence and pressed for a second relentlessly, and their efforts bore fruit in the 83rd minute when a collision between the South African goalie and his defender gave Adam Hanin the easiest of chances to win the game for his side, and he made no mistake.
Meanwhile, in Group C, Mali saw off a stern challenge from Burkina Faso to claim a 1-0 victory at the May 19, 1956, stadium to put themselves in good stead for qualification to the quarterfinal phase. The winning goal, scored by Mamadou Doumbia in the 25th minute, was the only shot on target for Mali in a game where they dominated ball possession but were unable to make much of that dominance in front of goal. The little that they made of their possession dominance, however, was enough to secure the win against Burkina Faso, who were happy to cede possession to their opponents while looking much deadlier on the offensive. As they tried for the rest of the match to level the scores and perhaps turn the game around after conceding against the run of play, the Burkinabes were unfortunately unable to convert their attacking dominance into victory and now find themselves on the cusp of what could be an early exit from the tournament.
Nigeria and Morocco will square off in a top-of-the table clash on Wednesday in a game which could see one of the two sides potentially book their place in the quarterfinals. South Africa and Zambia will also be doing their best to clinch a crucial victory in their bottom-of-the-table clash to boost their qualification chances and avoid an early exit. Also, in Group C, Mali could secure a quarterfinal berth with a victory over Cameroon on Wednesday, but that may be easier said than done.
You can catch all these games live on GTV Sports+.