Eaglets Lose to Morocco, Face S’Africa Next

U17 AFCON

….For a place in quarter finals on Saturday

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets lost 1-0 to Morocco on Wednesday night in the ongoing CAF U17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria.

An own goal by Tochukwu Ogboji as early as the 2nd minute was all the Moroccans, who downed South Africa’s Amajimbo 2-0 on the opening day, needed to make it to the knockout phase of the competition.

Moorroco joined Senegal to become the second team to book a place in the knock-out stage of the tournament having secured maximum points from their opening two matches.

Now, Nigeria who are five-time world champions will need to beat South Africa in their next game to stand any chance of getting into the last eight.

As happened in their opening match against Zambia, the Eaglets created chance after chance but pathetically lacked precision in front of goal.

Abubakar Abdullahi should have done better than balloon the ball skywards after Emmanuel Michael put him through in the 21st minute, and captain Precious Williams also failed to make hay as the North Africans mounted an impregnable rearguard.

Defender Yahaya Lawali, who was again picked as Man-of-the-Match despite Nigeria’s loss, shot towards the sky with a through ball in the 69th minute. Substitutes Light Eke and Adewale Quadri provided the only real tests for the Moroccan goalkeeper in a frantic second period.

The Eaglets will now play South Africa on Saturday, and victory is imperative in

order to be assured of qualification to the last eight.