The coach of the senior Ivory Coast team, Sabri Lamouchi has expressed his satisfaction after the Baby Elephants’ success in the Under 17 Africa Cup of Nations. 

Kamara Ibrahim’s protégés won in a penalty shootout in the final against Nigeria, on Saturday in Marrakech.

“I am very happy for the Ivoirian people.  Especially for these youngsters and coach Kamara Ibrahim who has done an excellent job.  This is an example for all of us and for Ivoirian football,” stated the national coach of the Elephants, who hopes to see the young champions reinforce their performance at the highest level.

The Baby Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire won their first  African U-17 title after a 5-4 penalty shoot victory over The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria in the final of  CAF U-17 Morocco Telecom Championship played in Marrakech on Saturday.

The West African derby had ended 1-1 with both goals scored in the first half of a pulsating encounter.

It took the Nigerians eight minutes to open the scoring through Prince Omego. Chidiebere Nwakali took a corner kick that forced a save from the Ivorian goal minder Aboubakar Diabagate who punched a goal-bound header back into play and Omega reacted quickest to poke home the first goal of the match.

Tunisia's U-17 national team finished third at the 2013 CAF U-17 Championship after beating fellow North Africans, Morocco 11-10 on penalties  in Marrakech on Saturday.

The match had ended 1-1 with The Atlas Cubs equalising in the seond half through Younes Bnou Marzouk after Hazem Hassen Haj had put Tunisia in front just before half.

The following scored penalties for Morocco , Sabbar, Mohamed Saoud, Jaadi,Yassine Jbira, Marzouk, El Bouazzati, Bilal Jellal, Achaoui, El Azzouzi, Belkouch while Younes Boudadi and  Sabbar missed the second of his two kicks.

Tunisia scored penalties through ,Samti,Marouane Sahraoui, Khalil Hnid, Chiheb Jbeli, Yasser Slimi, Haj, Sabri Akrout, Aboud, Ghazi Ayadi, Bahaeddine Sahraoui and Samti for the second time, while Sabri Ben Hessen missed.

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria face Cote d’Ivoire in the final match of  CAF U-17 Morocco Telecom Championship to be played in Marrakech on Saturday.

Cote d’Ivore is the only team to have beaten Nigeria so far at the finals taking place in Morocco and the Nigerians have made it no secret that the defeat is still fresh in their minds and they are seeking redemption come Saturday.

The Baby Elephants for their part have said, they will not dwell on what happened in the Group B match (which they won 1-0) but will approach the new match with a mindset for victory.

Nigeria last won the title in 2007 while Cote d’Ivoire is assured of its best ever finish at the U-17 finals regardless of the final score. Up until the Ivorians beat host Morocco to reach the final the best they had achieved before was a third place in the 2005 edition.

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria beat Tunisia 4-2 in an entertaining semi-final played in Marrakech on Wednesday.

Nigeria will now play Cote d’Ivoire in the final on Saturday while hosts Morocco and Tunisia play for third and fourth place.

The Golden Eaglets stormed out of the blocks as Success Isaac found Kelechi Iheanacho with a square ball barely seconds in and only good reflexies from goalkeeper Ben Chrifia prevented an early goal. But hardly a minute later Iheanacho returned to score from a through ball.

Nigerian play was proving to be too much for overwhelmed Tunisia who looked shell-shocked and struggling to live with the Nigerians.

Cote d’Ivoire is through to the final of the 10th CAF U-17 Morocco Telecom 2013 Championship after stopping the hosts, Morocco 2-1 in a semi-final match played at Mohamed V stadium in Casablanca on Tuesday.

First half goals from Chris Bedia on 30th minute and a strike from Dogbole Niangbo after 39 minutes put baby Elephants in driving seat after a half they had had the better of possession, scoring chances and play.

It was Morocco however who came closest to opening the scoring about eighteen minutes into the match when a midfielder Sakhi Hamza‘s shot scrapped some paint off the upright with Ivorian goalkeeper Aboubakar Diabagate scrambling.

The semi-final line-up for the 10th CAF U-17 Championship, Morocco 2013 is complete and the Baby Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire drew 0-0 with the Black Starlets of Ghana in a Group B match played in Casablanca on Saturday.

The draw gave Cote d’ Ivoire five points which took the side into second position behind Nigeria who topped the group after a 7-0 win over Congo.

The Baby Elephants will now stay in Casablanca to play hosts Morocco on Tuesday, April 23 in the semi-final while Nigeria will meet Tunisia in Marrakesh.

Reaching the semi-finals gave Cote d’ Ivoire a ticket to return to the FIFA U-17 World Cup where two years ago they reached the second round in the Mexico finals before losing 3-2 to France. They produced the tournament’s top goal scorer in Souleymanw Coulibaly whose nine goals equaled the tournament record.

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria returned to winnings ways with an emphatic 7-0 victory over Congo during the last Group B match played in Marrakech on Saturday.

Congo played for about an hour with nine men after two expulsions in on 32nd and 39th minutes but Nigeria was already 2-0 up at the time of the first expulsion.

The win took Nigeria into the semi-finals of the CAF U-17 Championship and also ensured qualification for the FIFA World Cup to be played in October and November in United Arab Emirates.

The match was only three minutes old when Kelechi Iheanacho hooked home with his left boot for the opening goal from inside the box. A cross from the right sailed over everyone in the box and Musa Yahaya sent back into the box a low cross which Iheanacho converted into the match’s first goal.

Tunisia and Morocco played a 1-1 draw in final group A match played in Casablanca on Friday night.

The word of mouth must have worked well as huge numbers of fans finally turned up in Casablanca where they were 15 to 18,000 spectators; mostly young people were in the Mohamed V stadium.

Moroccans trooped to the arena after they had heard the praise given to their team after his first two matches which the Atlas Cubs won against Gabon and Botswana, and the fans decided to come and encourage the side and to discover more about the entertaining side.

With both teams already guaranteed semi-final places, it only to decide first and second places and the two coaches, the Moroccan Abdellah El Idrissi and Tunisian Abdellay Ben Sultan chose to use those players who had not seen much action or none at all so far.

Ghana come from behind to draw 1-1 with Congo and leave themselves a chance to fight for a semi-final place when they face Cote d’Ivoire in the final group match on Saturday.

Congo too on two points will be going into their final group game against Nigeria hoping for a positive result to take them through. Unlike the situation in group A, all four teams in group B are still with a chance to qualify.

The Black Starlets had hardly settled down when they were rocked by an early strike in the 3rd minute from Congolese striker Kader Bidimbou. A loose ball was bobbling in the box and Bidimbou reacted quickest in a crowded box to prod it home from about a meter out.