Africa: TotalEnergies U17 AFCON - Chiba Revels in 'Dream' World Cup Qualification for Morocco

11 May 2023
Confederation of African Football (Giza)

Morocco have qualified for the U17 FIFA World Cup for the second time in their history, following their 3-0 win over Algeria at the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter finals in Constantine on Wednesday.

Head coach Said Chiba has described this as a dream achievement for his players, and he is already looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity of learning from other top footballing nations.

"The World Cup is a dream for the players. We have a chance to measure ourselves up against teams which are considered leaders in world football and this is absolutely good for their development. Going to the World Cup for them at this age is also a huge motivation for their careers," Chiba said after the match.

He says the senior team's historic performance at the Qatar 2022 World Cup worked to boost and motivate the team's morale even before the tournament started, as they also wanted to make history of their own.

"It was a really good motivating factor for them. And now, having this team qualifying for the World Cup is testament of the work done by the Federation especially with the grassroot programs. We have seen that their efforts have borne fruits and now these players are the future of the senior team," the tactician stated.

Reflecting on the match and their massive victory, Chiba said they were hugely aided by earning an early goal, something that settled their nerves and made them play more comfortably.

Different from how they played in their first two group stage matches, the Atlas Cubs were more offensive and opened up their play more.

"We knew it was going to be a tough match but once we scored first, it helped us calm down and be more proactive. Of course Algeria is a good team but we intended to create more and use the spaces they left behind," said the tactician.

He adds; "We plan differently for each game. In the group phase we played against very tough and physical teams and we had to use a different strategy. Against Algeria, it was a more open game and we changed our strategy to suit that too."

With the World Cup ticket safely wrapped under their arms, Chiba and his charges now switch their attention to the last four duel when they play either Mali or Congo in Annaba.

Their next target now is to battle for the title for the first time in their history.

Read the original article on CAF.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2023 Confederation of African Football. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 110 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.