…Sets Thursday date with the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria on Thursday in the quarterfinals at 2000 hours.
QUARTERFINAL PAIRINGS AT A GLANCE.
Sen Vs SAf Wed @ 1700hrs
Mor Vs Alg Wed @ 2000 hrs
Mal Vs Con Thu @ 1700 hrs
Nig Vs BFA Thur @ 2000 hrs
Defending African U17 champions, Junior Indomitable Lions of Cameroon were on Sunday bumped out of the 2023 tournament in Algeria as Souleymane Alio of Burkina Faso brace completely finished the Samuel Etoo Fils ward in a 2-1 outing.
Yandjio came with a bubbling goal for Cameroon from an assist by Essono Rodrigues in the 61st minute after the hustle and bustle of the first half that ended goalless.
One word finished Cameroon which is CARELESS as Alio who had no goal to his name before scored two scintillating goals within two minutes. Getting a pass from Camara in the 76th minute he brilliantly beat the Cameroonian goalkeeper from a defensive blunder. In the 78th minute he beat two defenders and on rushing goalkeeper for the second goal.
Thus the Lion expected to roar from the forest will return to Yaounde in 48 hours caged looking like a transfer to the Zoo and they have themselves to blame for a record careless outing.
The differentials in the stats were not actually significant with 19 shots at goal, 6 on target of Cameroon and 14 shots with 4 on target to the Burkina babes; passes were 365-300 in favor of Cameroon but though the foul calls were 10 each way, the only three yellow cards were for Burkina Faso.
Mali had defeated Burkina Faso 1-0 on 1st May and bashed Cameroon 2-0 on 4th May to lead the Group C table.
The turning point is that Burkina Faso as second in this group C will now meet Nigeria in the quarters while South Africa that placed 3rd in group B will now meet Senegal in the quarters.
Cameroon and Burkina Faso met twice at the U17 level. On 19th July 2014 Cameroon won 2-0 and on 2nd August 2014 Burkina Faso held Cameroon to 0-0 at home. It is interesting to inform you that the highest defeat Cameroon ever suffered was a 4-0 humiliation from Ghana Starlets on the 14th of May 2017 at Port Gentil, Gabon.
Although the two teams appeared six times each at the tournament, Cameroon had a better record. The Cubs won the trophy twice in 2003 at Swaziland beating Sierra Leone 1-0 AET and at the last Competition in Tanzania 2019 beating Guinea 5-3 via penalties after a pulsating goalless game. Cameroon placed 4 in 1999 at Guinea after losing to Mali by a lone goal. In 2001; 2009 and 2017 the Cub Lions lost at the group levels. But now, how are the Mighty Falling? Cameroon is caged like a chicken!
Burkina Faso only won the trophy in Rwanda 2011 beating hosts Rwanda 2-1; won the Silver twice at Guinea 1999 losing to Ghana1-3 and at Seychelles 2011 losing to Nigeria 0-3; won Bronze at Algeria 2009 beating Malawi 2-0 but in 2005 and 2007 they were booted out at the group stages.
Here are the quarterfinals pairing. Senegal will meet the team the Amajimbos of South Africa on Wednesday 10th of May at 1700 hours in Algiers; Morocco will line up against hosts Algeria at Constantine on 10th May at 2000 hours; Mali will meet Congo at Annaba on Thursday 11th May at 1700 hours and Nigeria will slug it out with Burkina Faso at Algiers on 11th May at 2000 hours.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
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