The Morocco, Algeria and Cote d’Ivoire were among the African teams whose title hopes suffered setbacks in the FIFA U15 World Cup and Festival in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, while Cameroon and Senegal secured places in the quarter-finals.
The competition’s final phase is being held at the Hovsan Sports Complex near Baku, with teams divided into separate sections according to their performances in the opening stage. The tournament uses a knockout format, but a defeat does not end a team’s involvement, with further classification matches played to determine final positions.
Morocco were beaten 1-0 by Paraguay in the last 16 of Division A. The Lionceaux de l’Atlas had made an impressive start to the competition but will now compete in placement matches rather than continue their bid for the divisional title.
Guinea kept their own title challenge alive with a 4-2 victory over Egypt in an all-African tie. Ghana are the other remaining African contender for the Division A crown.
Algeria endured another difficult result after their earlier exit. Karim Ziani’s side had lost to Guinea on penalties in the last 16 during the morning before suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat by Albania in a classification match.
Cameroon, by contrast, beat Cyprus 2-1 in one of the Division A placement fixtures.
Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire take contrasting paths
Senegal produced one of the day’s biggest wins in Division B, defeating Costa Rica 6-1. Abdoulaye Diallo scored a hat-trick, Pierre Fleury Mbengue added two goals and Georges Kanfom completed the scoring.
The Lionceaux will face Madagascar in the quarter-finals after Madagascar defeated Uzbekistan 4-1.
Cote d’Ivoire’s progress was halted by a 2-1 defeat against Argentina. The result ended a run of impressive attacking displays from the Elephanteaux, who had previously beaten Rwanda 5-0 and the Turks and Caicos Islands 6-0. They will continue in the competition through the classification matches.
Mali also moved into the placement schedule after losing 4-2 to Slovakia, while Congo-Brazzaville were narrowly beaten 3-2 by China.
In Division C, Tunisia recorded a commanding 5-0 victory over Thailand and will play France in Thursday’s quarter-finals. Benin also advanced after winning a high-scoring West African contest against Nigeria 6-3.
DR Congo completed the list of African quarter-finalists by defeating Oman 2-0 in Division D.
Elsewhere in that section, Lesotho eliminated Tahiti on penalties after a 3-3 draw, winning the shootout 5-4. Togo suffered the opposite outcome against Jordan, losing 4-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
Several of Africa’s leading contenders have now lost their chance to win their respective divisions, but a sizeable group remains in contention for quarter-final places. The teams eliminated from the title race will continue playing international matches until the tournament concludes.
