Morocco got their African Under-23 Championships campaign off to a perfect start when beating Nigeria 1-0 in Tangiers on Saturday.The home side won the game thanks to a penalty converted by Abdelaziz Barrada.
Neither side really created any chances in the opening exchanges but Morocco dominated play.Barrada opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 25 minutes after Nigeria’s Emmanuel Anyanwu was judged to have fouled Yacine Qasmi in the box.
Nigeria were limited to long range efforts and none of them really troubled Yassine El Kharroubi in the Morocco goal.
Morocco should have doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half but Soufiane Bidaoui somehow shot wide from six yards out with an open goal in front of him.
In the 72nd minute Youness Mokhtar raced clear of the Nigeria defence and appeared to shoot wide although the Moroccans claim it was blocked and claimed a corner.
With six minutes left to play Moroccan captain Driss Fettouhi shot from outside the area but his fierce drive went just wide of the target. Nigeria, who struggled to string their passes together, are aware that they must improve their game if they are to beat Senegal in their next match on Tuesday.
“No, we didn’t play well, but we have seen the areas where we made mistakes and we will try to correct them. Nigerians should not lose hope but continue to believe in us as I know we will do well against Senegal in our next game,” Nigeria assistant coach Stanley Eguma said.
