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Marrakech – After a memorable U-17 Africa Cup of Nations campaign earlier this year, which saw Morocco lift the trophy for the first time in history, the U-17 Moroccan National Team seeks to emulate previous success on the world stage at the U-17 World Cup, hosted in Qatar.
However, their first of three group stage matches proved unsuccessful, leading to a 2-0 loss against Japan.
The Atlas Cubs, coached by former international Nabil Baha, and captained by highly-touted Ajax Youth Academy prospect Abdellah Ouazane, faced a technical and resilient Japanese team, who successfully managed to find cracks in the Moroccan defense.
Baha’s boys got off to a strong start in the opening 15 minutes. Through their 4-1-4-1 shape, Morocco asserted its control of the middle of the pitch and created danger on Shuji Muramatsu’s goal on a few occasions, most notably through an impressive long-range effort from Moroccan defender Moncef Zekri at the nine-minute mark.
However, as the first half progressed, Japan’s control grew, pushing Morocco’s lines deeper into its own half of the pitch.
The first major scare for the Moroccan defense occurred from a corner kick in the 28th minute, as Japanese defender Anthony Motosuna outjumped Chouaib Bellaarouch, Morocco’s goalkeeper, to place a header into the back of the net. Luckily for the Atlas Cubs, the goal was waved off by the Italian referee for illegal contact prior to the shot.
Yet, Japan’s attacks multiplied and ultimately resulted in left-winger Taiga Seguchi drawing first blood at the 57th minute through a first-time curler from the edge of the box that lodged itself into the top right corner of Bellaarouch’s goal.
Following Japan’s goal, the Atlas Cubs attacked with even more intent. However, besides two far-fetched appeals for penalties late in the game, the Moroccans failed to generate any tangible danger in Japan’s box.
With the spaces left behind as a result of Morocco pushing higher, Japan moved to take advantage through quick transitions, first scoring a later-disallowed goal in the 78th minute for a handball on Minato Yoshida, before doubling their lead in the sixth minute of added time via Daigo Hirashima’s shot.
Nabil Baha told Arryadia in a post-game interview that Morocco will seek to bounce back from this defeat.
Their first chance to do so will be on Thursday, November 6, against Portugal.
