CAN U17: Which Eaglets will soar highest in Marrakech?

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And so we enter the home straight of the 10^th CAF U-17 Morocco Telecom Championship 2013 and in Marrakech it has come down to a clash of the Eaglets as Nigeria and Tunisia meet in the second semi-final. The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria come into this match as the top goal scoring side with thirteen (13) strikes while The Carthage Eaglets have scored eight (8) times.

Nigeria stormed out of the blocks handing a 6-1 thrashing to The Black Starlets of Ghana before being derailed but Cote d’ Ivoire (1-0). The general verdict after that shock defeat to the Baby Elephants was that the Nigerians had become complacent and were made to pay. The Golden Eaglets have since redeemed their campaign with a 7-0 win over Congo and coach Manu Garba wants no repeat of the Ivorian episode. In preparing for the semi-final match The Golden Eaglets worked on different strategies that included practicing penalty kicks.

CAF U-17 matches go straight into penalties without playing extra time and according to Garba, “We have never excluded taking penalties from our training even before this preparation for Tunisia game. Almost all the players are good at taking penalties but we are going to work even more as we prepare for Wednesday match. That some of the world’s best players often choke and collapse under the weight of expectations during penalty shootout is a known fact hence the Nigerian lads are being tutored against becoming a choking on the big stage” said Garba.

The Tunisian defence that has been breached four times so far in the competition will have the top two leading strikers in Success Isaac (6 goals) and Kelechi Iheanacho (4 goals) to contend with come Wednesday. For their part The Carthage Eaglets have found goals in striker Ben Larbi Mohamed Firas with three so far and Haj Hasen Hazem who has found the net twice. Gong by the potent strike-force both sides bring into the match it looks like one game you can be assured of goals but puts the attention of defending. Nigeria gave away two goals and Tunisia twice as many as their opponents in the group phase of the competition. Can the sharp strikers be kept on Wednesday? That is the key question

"We are happy that we have eventually qualified for the World Cup because that was our first priority at this championship and we thank God that we have achieved that," Garba said. The affable coach went on to say that the Congo win is behind them now and keep focused on the goal ahead is the key and all attention is on the semi-final game.

Tunisia finished second in Group A after a 3-1 win over Botswana in their opening game, then beat Gabon 4-2 and played out a 1-1 draw with hosts Morocco in their final group game.  

The winner of the Niger vs. Tunisia semi-final will meet Cote d’ Ivoire (who beat Morocco 2-1) in the final to be played on Saturday 27^th April in Marrakech. The loser will play Morocco for third and fourth place match also in Marrakech in a game before the final.

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