Morocco finish runners-up at CAN U-17 finals

Morocco fell just short of winning the U-17 CAN. In a hard-fought match at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers, which decided the winner of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Senegalese team won the African title.   

The Moroccans took the lead with a goal by Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal in the 14th minute, a slight advantage that was cut short when Senegalese player Serigne Fallou Diouf added a penalty in the 80th minute after a handball by a Moroccan defender. Mamadou Savané followed up with a header in the 83rd minute to give Senegal the final victory. 

🚨 Le Maroc 🇲🇦 a été désigné l’équipe fair-play de la CAN U17. pic.twitter.com/yPBwLigVwp

— Actu Foot Maghreb (@actufootmaghreb) May 19, 2023

The Moroccan team, under the guidance of Said Chiba, had proved their worth since the group stage of the competition, where they had two wins in the opening matches and a bitter 2-1 defeat by Zambia. In the quarter-finals, the 'cubs' thrashed hosts Algeria 3-0 in the Maghreb derby and overcame Mali in the semi-finals. A path that paved the way for their presence in the final against Senegal.  

Although the Moroccans lost to the Senegalese, the match between the two teams went down in African football history because neither Senegal nor Morocco had reached this stage of the competition since 1995.  

The Moroccans have not lifted the African trophy, but they get to be named the CAN U-17 fair play team. The King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, congratulated the national team for their exceptional performance in the tournament and their qualification for the 2023 World Cup.