SA Under-23 suffers defeat to Morocco

South African Under-17 team lost their opening match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations 2-0 Morocco at the Stade Mohamed-Hamlaoui stadium, in Algeria.

Morocco scored their goals through Ait Boudlal and Adam Hanim. Duncan Crowie side started the game as the better side and created a number of chances but failed to convert them.

In the 73rd minute, Morocco were awarded a penalty after the ball hit Benjamin Wallis’s hand inside the box. Ait Boudlal scored from the penalty spot.

The North Africans doubled the in the 83rd minute after Adam Hanin capitalised on miscommunication between goalkeeper Kyle Jansen and his defenders.

“It’s not a case of what did not work. A lot of things worked for us,” said Crowie after the match. “We had the upper hand and more ball possession. We had territorial advantage as well, but unfortunately in the final third we came unstuck because they had numbers behind the ball.”

“As you could see, they played on the counter and they played on the long ball and two mistakes led to their goal.

“If it was not for those two things, we had the upper hand and with better control in the final third we could have created more opportunities.”

South Africa takes on Zambia in their second group game on Wednesday, 3 May 2023.
By Zola Doda

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