CAN U17 2023: Senegal wins the title on the wire against Morocco

The Cubs of Senegal during their victory against Algeria in the first round of the U17 CAN 2023. © Courtesy of CAF

Text by: Pierre Fesnien Follow

1 min

Senegal won the first U17 CAN in its history by beating Morocco 2-1 on Friday at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers. The Cubs of Teranga were led until the 80th minute of play.

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The meeting was historic. Neither team had ever won an African Cup of Nations in the U17 category and at the end of a match that was packed in the last minutes of play, it was finally Senegal who won against Moroccans who can certainly have regrets.

The match had started perfectly for Morocco with the opening of the score of the header, and from the 14th minute of play, Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal. The Atlas Cubs probably thought they had done the hardest by going into the locker room with the advantage at halftime. Solid in defense, the team of coach Saïd Chiba could also count on a goalkeeper in a state of grace on his last matches. In four games as a starter, Taha Benrhozil had not conceded a goal until then.

A match that switches three minutes

His invincibility, however, ended at the worst of times. The Senegalese, brilliant offensively throughout the competition and best attack of the tournament, did not panic and continued to push to try to come back. It was finally in the 80th minute of play that their efforts were concretized thanks to a penalty converted by Serigné Fallou Diouf.

The rest looks like a nightmare for Moroccans. Three minutes later, it was striker Mamadou Sawané, who entered the game 11 minutes earlier, who went to give the advantage to his own with a furious header and offer Senegal the first U17 Africa Cup of Nations in its history.

72' 82' 🔁

⚽️Mamadou Sawané needed only 10 minutes to score the winning goal in the final of the #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 🇸🇳 🔥

It can be said that he had an impact 😉 pic.twitter.com/4wkmULmY14

— #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 2023 - EN (@caf_online_FR) May 19, 2023 🏆

► Read also: CAN U17: clash between Cubs in the final for a first historic title

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• Football
• Senegal
• Morocco