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[QUOTE="Nehanda, post: 30477, member: 2262"]
Morocco crushed the Uganda Cubs 5-0 early Monday morning at El Bachir Stadium in Mohammedia. The home team completely dominated this opening match of the 2025 Total Energies CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Morocco started fast when Ilies Belmokhtar fired into the net just three minutes after kickoff. He later earned player of the match honors for his performance.

The pressure continued as Aït Cheikh jumped high to score with a header only five minutes later. Abdellah Ouazane provided the perfect cross for this second goal. Things went from bad to worse when officials checked the video replay and awarded Morocco a penalty kick in minute 23. Real Betis player Ziyad Baha stepped up and calmly scored to push the lead to 3-0.

Morocco kept attacking, and Belmokhtar found space to score his second goal before the 30-minute mark. Uganda players walked off at halftime, facing an almost impossible comeback situation. The Cubs played much better defense after the break and looked more organized on the field. They created a few attacks but never managed to put the ball past the Moroccan defenders.

Any hopes of avoiding a blowout ended when substitute El Aoud set up Baha for his second goal in minute 71. This completed the 5-0 thrashing by the host nation. Uganda must recover quickly as they face Tanzania on April 3rd. That match becomes extremely important if the Cubs want any chance to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup later this year.
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