New Caledonia have exited the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ with a 16-0 defeat to Morocco in their final group stage game at the Aspire Zone in Doha.
Two red cards inside the first half hour severely dented New Caledonia’s hopes, shipping seven goals in the first half and a further nine in the second half, with just nine players on the field for much of the contest.
New Caledonia had hopes of progressing to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time after a famous draw with Japan just three days earlier, but were blown away by a hot start from the North Africans.
It took just three minutes for Bilal Soukrat to give Morocco the lead, and Oualid Ibn Salah added two more by the 18th minute to create an early deficit.
The frustrating start proved the catalyst for a loss of composure from Leo Lopez’s team, losing two men in eight minutes to a red card. First defender Typhan Dreuko was sent off for a wild swing at Abdelali Eddaoudi, before captain Jean Canehmez followed him down the tunnel with a reckless slide tackle on Ahmed Mouhoub in the 31st minute. Reduced to nine men with an hour still to play, New Caledonia lost control of the floodgates.
Abdelali Eddaoudi scored two in two minutes, one with his right foot and one with his head, to extend Morocco’s advantage to five by the 42nd minute. Ilyas Hidaoui and Ziyad Baha followed with two more in quick succession as the advantage stretched to seven by the half-time break.
Without the full complement of players, New Caledonia struggled to get out of their own half and ran out of steam as the game progressed. Zakari El Khalfoui opened the scoring for the second half in the 48th minute, followed by a second goal for Baha two minutes later.
Nahel Haddani got Morocco up to double digits with two goals of his own in quick succession just before the hour mark. New Caledonia did well to go 14 minutes without conceding for a period of the second half, before Abdellah Ouzane added Morocco’s 12th goal in the 73rd minute.
An own goal followed, before Ismail El Aoud added two, and Ouzane rounded out the scoring with Morocco’s 16th in second half stoppage-time.
Whilst it’s not the way New Caledonia would have liked to end their third FIFA U-17 World Cup™ campaign; many will remember the draw with Japan and the goal against Portugal in their other two group games for many years to come.
Morocco: 16 (Bilal SOUKRAT 3’, Oualid IBN SALAH 11’, 18’, Abdelali EDDAOUDI 41’, 42’, Ilyas HIDAOUI 44’, Ziyad BAHA 45+2’, 50’, Zakari EL KHALFOUI 48’, Nahel HADDANI 56’, 59’, Abdellah OUAZANE 73’, 90+2’, Own Goal 76’, Ismail EL AOUD 80’, 90’)
New Caledonia: 0
HT: 7-0