Clear Men’s football record in Africa, beat Morocco 2-1.
…Harvest of tears in Moroccan team.
AWARD SCORE BOARD
Golden boot – Amara Diouf (5goals) –Senegal.
Golden Gloves (best Keeper) – Serigne Diouf of Senegal.
Best Player – Souleymane Alio – Burkina Faso.
Fair Play Trophy – Morocco.
Cover Photo is from Folu Olamiti.
The Junior Taranga Lions of Senegal expectedly lifted the CAF U17 title for the first time and enforcing a West African domination of the title wins as it came to the region for the 13th time though the Junior Atlas Lions fought a good fight.
Senegal at the Nelson Mandela Stadium where they played their group games and came tops beat Morocco 2-1 to earn their first U17 African title.
Senegal that was trailing Morocco by a lone goal from the first half scored two goals within three minutes to upturn the hopes and deflate completely the confidence of the North Africans. The weeping began before the final whistle for Morocco from the bench and I almost went into the pitch to render the long poem of Kenyan’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, WEEP NOT CHILD, I studied at high school in 1973 to the boys who played a fantastic game but their study of the Chosen One, Jose Maurinho referred to in football as Professor of PARKING THE BUS deflated their dream of being African champions as they had the match within grips at the first half.
The first goal of the night came with a holy cross pass from the right flank from Abdelhamid Maali which Ait Boudial with a strong flying header scored in the 14th minute. Boudial a Central Defender had scored a penalty against South Africa in the 73rd minute at the Group stages.
The Senegalese boys never gave up as they mounted intense pressure on the Moroccans who played the second half mostly in their defense area with all their players. The pressure yielded dividend when the ball rolled up the hands of a Moroccan defender on air and VAR gleefully awarded penalty to Senegal. Amara Diouf was poised to take the kick but the Moroccan Keeper started a psychological war with him and he carried the ball to hand over to Defender Serigne Diouf who clinically scored the equalizer at 80h minute. Serigne Diouf had scored the only goal that deflated DR Congo in the 77th minute at the group game on the 30th April.
In the same manner Boudial scored the opener for Morocco, super sub, Mamadou Savane scored the winner with a stunningly powerful header in the 83rd minute to close the Story of Algeria 2023. It is not clear whether Mamadou Savane is the talisman for Senegal but it will be recalled he scored the winner against Algeria in the 86th minute in a 2-1 victory at the Mandela Stadium on 2nd May to become the ‘husband of North African teams’.
It is interesting to report that although CAF made a male, Tangny Patrice Mebiame of Gabon the Center Referee his two assistants, both females Diana Chicotesha from Zambia and beautiful Fanta Idrissa Kone from Mali were super fantastic as the duo played a formidable role to forestall chaos when the Moroccan players lost their head in the dying minutes of the game posing for a fisticuffs with the Senegalese players.
If Senegal wins the trophy, it will be the 13th time a West African country will lift the trophy out of 13 times. Ghana won 1995 and 1999; Cameroon the defending Champions won 2003 and 2019; Gambia won 2005 and 2009; Mali won 2015 and 2017 while Nigeria lifted the trophy in 2001 and 2007. Burkina Faso won in Rwanda 2011 while Ivory Coast won in 2013 in Morocco. Egypt won in Botswana in 1997 beating Mali 1-0 in the final.
Senegal had beaten DRC 1-0; humiliated hosts Algeria 3-0; devoured debutant Somalia by same margin and dismissed South Africa by a whopping 5-0 which is the highest scored in a single match in the Quarterfinals. In the Semifinal Senegal goal post was ‘disvirgined’ by Burkina Faso that scored the only goal scored against Senegal to erase their clean sheet record with Mali. Clean sheet in football means you did not concede a goal. For Senegal to do this in a tournament means a lot. Will Morocco be able to score against the tight defence of Senegal? It is 13 goals scored and 1 conceded.
Morocco had defeated South Africa 2-0; beaten Nigeria’s Golden Eaglet 1-0 and piped Zambia 2-1 at the Group Stages before mauling hosts Algeria sending the country to the stands 3-0 in the Quarterfinal. In the semifinal Mali by a stroke of ill luck lost to Morocco 6-5 on penalties after a goalless full match. Morocco scored 8 goals and conceded 1 meaning the team equally has a tight defence but not a totally clinical attackers.
Senegal and Morocco met at this age group on 15th April 2019 and they both played 1-1 draw. T. Bamtayeb opened scoring for Morocco in the 47th minute while M. Diaw equalized in 88th minute.
Morocco’s best achievement so far was 4th while hosting in 2013 and she lost the Bronze to Tunisia in the highest penalty shootouts in the annals of CAF U17 11-10 after 1-1 at full time. At the last games Tanzania 2019 Morocco was sent out at the Group stages. Can the Atlas Lions consume the Taranga Lions in the final on Sunday?
Interestingly, Senegal has never gone beyond the group stages of the age group tournament as they did in 2011 in Rwanda and 2019 in Tanzania but the political lexicon, EMI LOKAN (IT’S MY TURN) playing out in Nigerian political horizon worked for the Senegalese who cleared all available football trophy in Africa’s Men category including Beach Soccer? This is their first appearance at the grand finale.
Senegal has now won the trophy in the 13th time a West African country has lifted the trophy out of 14 times. Ghana won 1995 and 1999; Cameroon the defending Champions won 2003 and 2019; Gambia won 2005 and 2009; Mali won 2015 and 2017 while Nigeria lifted the trophy in 2001 and 2007. Burkina Faso won in Rwanda 2011 while Ivory Coast won in 2013 in Morocco. Egypt won in Botswana in 1997 beating Mali 1-0 in the final.
Senegal as African Champions will lead Morocco; Burkina Faso and Mali to represent Africa at the World U17 championships.
Patmos Media Line.
#CAFU17TotalEnergiesAlgeria2023.
