Despite an intense start to the Atlas lion cubs under the leadership of coach Mohamed Ouahbi, the Moroccan selection conceded a shot in the 16ᵉ minute in a context of disorganization of the defensive line.
Despite the continuous pressure exerted on the caretaker’s cages, the efficiency failed in the last gesture, before Mohamed Yassir Zoubairi egalized in the additional time of the first half, which ended in the score of 1-1.
At the start of the second period, the Moroccans continued their assault, and Zoubairi again found the net of a head in the 55ᵉ minute, before leaving the ground on injury.
To read: U20 Football tournament: Morocco ends Algeria’s journey
While domination seemed to be Moroccan, the Kenyan selection returned to the match by equalizing in the 71ᵉ minute through the intermediary, thus relating the fight for the points of the meeting.
The answer was rapid on the part of the replacement Reda Laalaoui, who scored the third goal in the 79ᵉ minute, restoring the advantage to the Atlas lion cubs.
The Moroccan team could have widen the gap, but Othmane Maamma missed a penalty. Despite this, the players preserved their advance until the final whistle, thus winning a precious victory to start their continental campaign.
Thanks to this success, the Moroccan selection takes the lead in group B with three points, ahead of Nigeria unlike goals, the latter having beat Tunisia on the score of 1-0. Kenya and Tunisia occupy third and fourth place without any point respectively.
The Atlas lion cubs will face the Nigerian selection in the shock of the second day, next Sunday, May 19 at 19th before closing the group phase against Tunisia, Wednesday May 7 at 4 p.m.
