South Africa's head coach Duncan Crowie says there will be many positives to pick, despite his side's 2-0 defeat at the hands of Morocco on their opening game at the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Constantine on Sunday.

Speaking after the game, Crowie believes they did their best, but were just not lucky enough to get over the line with goals.

"It is not a case of what didn't work out because a lot of things did go well for us like the ball possession, we had numbers behind the ball always. Morocco played counter attack and in two instances, we were caught out," the tactician said.

"I have told the boys in the dressing room that, fine, the results didn't go as planned but this is a tournament and this is just the first game. We know of many teams, like Spain at the World Cup in South Africa, who lost their first game but went on to do great."

Crowie says he will tell his players during their debrief meeting on all the positive aspects of their game and also show them the footage from the game, to lift their spirits and let them know all is not lost ahead of their second match against Zambia on Wednesday.

He has picked out the attack line as one of the areas he will need to sharpen before the next game.

"We need to improve a little bit more on our composure in the final third. We need to have less touches inside the box and be calm in the final third. Morocco was disciplined and very organized defensively and that is why we couldn't create much danger. But we need a bit more finer touches when it matters most," the coach noted.

The South Africans are returning to the tournament for the first time since 2015 when they reached the final, and coach Crowie hopes they can bounce back from their opening day setback and replicate, or even better, that performance from eight years ago.