AFCON U17: Nigeria take on Morocco in Group B highlight match

Two of the top sides in Group B of the 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations will be in action on Wednesday 3 May as Morocco take on Nigeria at the Stade Mohamed Hamlaoui stadium in Constantine, Algeria.

In both team’s first matchdays, The North Africans easily dispatched South Africa 2-0 while Nigeria managed a narrow 1-0 win against Zambia and Wednesday’s clash will see the winner boost their chances of getting into the knockout rounds.

Nduka Ugbade admits that Morocco have a strong team, plays compact football, and are good in attack and defensively strong. He also assured that the Eaglets will be prepared for what is set to be their toughest test yet.

Nigeria is participating for the 10th time in this tournament while Morocco is participating for just the third time.

The Golden Eaglets have won the Championship on two occasions while the Moroccans are yet to taste success.

“It will be a very difficult game and so will all the matches in this group,” Morocco head coach Said Chiba told Complete Sports ahead of the match. “I watched Nigeria and it is a team which is very strong physically and quick on the offensive. We definitely have to prepare and play them differently from the match against South Africa. We will try to be more organized."

The top of the table clash will have a huge bearing on who finishes top of what is considered as the tournament’s group of death.

The game kicks off at 1900 EAT.

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In another game, South Africa will take on Zambia in the second Group B fixture of the day.

The two sides were drawn in the same group for the tournament, and they met with a place in the quarter finals at stake.

Both sides lost their opening match of the tournament, South Africa going down 2-0 to Morocco while Zambia were 1-0 losers at the hands of Nigeria.

“It is tough that we lost both games against them in the COSAFA tournament and we are looking to get revenge and bounce back from Sunday’s defeat too,” South Africa defender Waylon Renecke told CAF Online ahead of the game. “We are ready and confident for the game.”

Head coach Duncan Crowie also has memories of those twin losses against Zambia, and he says his side will approach the game with a different set up to get a win.

The game kicks off at 2200 EAT.