This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
Hibapress-Rabat-Caf
Twenty-eight years after facing the final of the CAN U20 Totalnergies, Moroccans and South Africans are found this Sunday in Cairo, for a remake with revenge.
Time has gone, but the memories have not erased anything. In 1997, Morocco won a short head (1-0) against South Africa to raise its first-and to this unique day-continental title among the U20s. Sunday, the Atlas lion cubs will have the opportunity to revive this glorious memory. Opposite, the Amajita will only have one idea: to reverse the scenario, to catch up with the thread of the story, and finally register their name in the charts.
Two finalists, two similar paths. In the semi-finals on Thursday, Morocco dropped Egypt, host country, in a tense northern derby, controlled and sealed by the realism of Jones El Abdellaoui (1-0, 77th). A little earlier, South Africa had thwarted the plans of a favorite Nigeria, thanks to a raging head of Michael Smith (1-0, 66th).
Solid lion cubs, liberated South Africans
Solid behind, compact in the middle, cutting edge in front: Morocco of Mohamed Ouahbi crossed the matches with direct elimination without conceding the slightest goal. Reda Laalaoui is organizing, Hospals Essadak Oriente, Ismaël Aouad overflows … and balance is held. Serene, the lion cubs advance in the final with the confidence of an oiled collective and the momentum of a glorious past.
Faced with them, the South Africans gained power over the tournament. Shaken in the group phase, Vela Khumalo’s men raised their tone. Their success against Nigeria, a continental reference, is not by chance. He wears the mark of a team that has learned to suffer, tighten, hit right. And who has not forgotten that their elders had, in 1996, conquered the CAN at home. The meeting is too big to let it pass.
A final of memory and revenge
There will therefore be stakes, prestige, memory and a certain idea of redemption in this final. An opposition between tactical rigor and found ambition. A battle between a team that wants to reconnect with its past and another which finally wants to exist in the charts.
In Cairo, Sunday evening, the curtain will fall on this CAN U20. But between Morocco and South Africa, it may be an old chapter that ends. And a new one that is written.
