U-17 World Cup: Mali and Morocco will clash for a semifinal spot

Morocco’s Under 17 football squad clinched a historic spot in the quarterfinals on Tuesday (Nov. 21).

The lion cubs played Iran at the Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium in Surabaya, east of the capital Jakarta.

Iran’s Esmaeil Gholizadeh opened the scoring sheet in the 73rd minute but Nassim Azaouzi hope for Morocco when he scored in the 90+4 minute.

Morocco eventually won the fixture 4-1 on penalty shoot-outs.

The November 25’s fixture will be Morocco’s first ever quarter-final in the U-17 World Cup.

Morocco will play against Mali on 19:00 (UTC+7) Manahan Stadium.

The Eaglets trounced Mexico 5-0 on November 21 to reach the quarters.

Concacaf champions Mexico couldn’t stop Soumaila Coulibaly’s squad.

Midfielder Barry scored twice (8), (13), Striker Diarra scored in the 15th minute, fellow forward Kanate score a penalty in the 37-minute. Midfielder Martial Tia scored the last goal in the 50th minute.

If Mali seems more experienced than Morocco in this competition with a 2015 runner-up place, Saturday’s fixture will not be easy.

Morocco beat 6-5 Mali during the U-17 AFCON semi-final in March.

Morocco will look to further make history as Mali seek to play its second final in the competition.

One thing is for sure, an African team will be in the semi-finals of U-17’s 19th edition.

The remaining African team, Senegal which is also AFCON champion will play France on Wednesday (Nov. 22).

The match will kick off at 19:00 (UTC+7).

Additional sources • Medi1news – Sport News Africa