Morocco 2025: Africa’s tough start: Nigeria, Morocco, and Cameroon struggled in the opening round of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2019-11.

The opening weekend of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco was a disappointing one for Africa. Nigeria, Morocco, and Cameroon all lost their opening group stage matches.

Host Morocco got off to a slow start, losing 0-3 to Brazil on Friday, October 17.

Despite having strong home support in Rabat, the Lionesses struggled to keep up with Brazil’s attacking intensity.

On Saturday, Cameroon played a thrilling match, but ultimately lost 3-4 to the Netherlands after a dramatic second-half collapse.

The Central Africans performed well in attack but were hampered by defensive errors at crucial moments.

The Nigerian Flamingos suffered a similar fate, losing 1-4 to Canada. Sunday Despite an encouraging first-half performance, including a late equaliser from Queen Joseph, the North Americans took it too easy after the break.

Zambia’s narrow 2-1 defeat to Paraguay means all four African teams have failed to win in their first round of matches.

The African teams will now aim to bounce back after their second round of group stage matches, keeping their hopes of advancing alive.

All results are from the first round of matches.

Friday, October 17

Morocco vs. Brazil 0-3
Saturday, October 18

China vs. Norway 5-0
Italy vs. Costa Rica 3-0
Cameroon vs. Netherlands 3-4
North Korea vs. Mexico 2-0
USA vs. Ecuador 3-0
October 19

Sunday Japan vs. New Zealand 3-0
South Korea vs. Côte d’Ivoire 1-1
France vs. Samoa 4-2
Nigeria vs. Canada 1-4
Spain vs. Colombia 4-0
Zambia vs. Paraguay 1-2