Today at 7:00 p.m., Morocco opens the ball against Nigeria at the CAN U20 of the Egypt CAF 2025
This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
Hibapress-Rabat-Caf
Morocco and Kenya open their campaign of group B of the African Cup of Nations under 20 Totalnergies (CAN) in an intriguing battle at the June 30 stadium in Cairo today Thursday (kick -off at 9:00 p.m. local time / 6:00 p.m. GMT).
It will be the first meeting between Morocco and Kenya at the CAN U20 of Totalnergies CAF.
Tanzania is the fourth team from East Africa that Morocco will face in the final and its record in these matches is P3 W2 D1.
In the previous games of Morocco against Eastern African opponents, they lost 2-1 against Ethiopia in 1993 during their first group match.
They beat Sudan 2-0 in their second group match in 1997 on their way to the title at home, while in 2021, they beat Tanzania 3-0 in their last group match.
Moroccan facts
· Morocco returns after missing the 2023 edition. They were eliminated in the quarter -finals during their last appearance in 2021 despite having conceded any goal during their four games.
They will participate in a tournament in North Africa for only the second time, after 1997, when they were hosts. They will participate in the final for the 13th time after their first appearance in 1979. They were victorious in 1997 and semi-finalists in 1987 and 2005. They are currently undefeated in their last nine games in the open phase (5 victories, 4 draws). Their latest defeat in the open phase dates back to 2003, against Egypt (4-0) in their last group match.
Morocco’s assessment in its first match is 5 wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats. He is undefeated in his first game in the last four finals (2 victories, 2 draws). His last defeat in this match dates back to 1993, a 2-1 defeat against Ethiopia.
They won their qualification tournament for the UNAF U-20. They won their first two games 2-1 against Egypt and Tunisia, before drawing 1-1 against Algeria. They won their last 4-0 game against Libya.
They scored nine goals in qualifying, thanks to eight goals scored by their players. Saad El Haddad was the only player to score more than one for them.
Facts on Kenya
· Kenya returns for the first time since 1979 and will participate for the first time in a single tournament final.
During their previous participation in 1979, they had lost their first qualification round against Ethiopia, despite a 2-0 victory in the first leg. They had lost the 4-0 return match and bowed 4-2 in total.
They qualified for the 2025 edition by finishing second in the Cecafa U-20 2024 championship. They lost 2-1 in the final despite their lead against Tanzania, host country. Their best scorers at the Cecafa U-20 2024 championship were Kelvin Wangaya and Aldrine Kibet, who both scored four goals.
They scored 15 goals during the qualifications and only conceded two. They kept their invited cage four times during their six qualifying games.
Kenya will aim to become the first Eastern African team to win the title of CAN U20 from Totalnergies CAF.
