Debutante Young Ocean Stars of Somalia was on Tuesday night at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers forced to a 1-1 draw by DR Congo in the CAF U17 Championship in Group A match.
15 year old (born 1st June 2007) Dini Mohammed Dahir made record as he scored the first ever International goal for the Somalia junior team from an Aden assist in the 32nd minute.
Somali defender, Abdulkadir Mohammed made an error that helped A. Aden of Congo DR to slam in the equalizer in the 58th minute.
Earlier Senegal had drubbed hosts Algeria 3-0 to be on top of the Group. Yes, Senegal tops Group A with 6 points having beaten Congo DR by a lone goal in the first round while Algeria is presently second with 3 points from the 2-0 win over Somalia.
It would have been a glorious outing for the regional lord as Somalia was CECAFA champions at Ethiopia last year and had won Silver in Burundi in 2018. CECAFA is the soccer ruling body from East and Central Africa just like WAFU is for West Africa.
63 year old Somalia Coach Nur Mohammed Aminu was operating under distress because his most valued player Abduhafid Mohammed had failed the MRI test and last week Thursday Abdulhafid told the Press that he was taking it with philosophical calmness as that was his destiny but my search showed that he was actually 19 years old.
Somalia played her first International match losing 0-1 to Angola at Lubango Angola on 2nd March 1997. Her greatest loss was 1-3 to Zambia which is in Nigeria’s Group B and that match was played in Lusaka on 12th July 2003.
Nigeria will play Morocco on Wednesday at 1700 hours in Group B. Thereafter, South Africa will play Zambia at 2000 hours. Only one match will be played in Group C on Thursday and it will be between Defending Champions Cameroon and Zambia at 1700 hours.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
#CAFU17TotalEnergyAlgeria2023
