The Golden Eaglets will be hard pressed to beat Morocco Wednesday in Constantine for the leadership of Group B of the 2023 U17 AFCON in Algeria.
The Eaglets edged past a hard-fighting Zambia 1-0 Sunday, before the young Atlas Lions of Morocco outscored their South African counterparts 2-0 to go top of the standings.
The Nigerian boys in the tutelage of coach Nduka Ugbade played with so much panache even after they lost three of their star midfielders in an MRI age test conducted back in Abuja.
“Winning the first game gives us a mental edge and psychologically, we are better than we started,” Ugbade said.
We created lots of chances that we couldn’t finish, some passes were not correct and many more errors. But the good thing is that we keep improving.’’
Morocco, who jetted into Algeria just a day before the U17 AFCON kicked off no thanks to a political spat involving the host nation, parade four Europe-based players from Ajax Amsterdam to Juventus.
The prizes for the winners of Group B are a chance to stay put in Constantine and a second round clash against the runners-up of Group A, which now stands as Senegal.