South Africa end long wait to lift U20 AFCON trophy after win over Morocco

South Africa national U20 team, Amajita, finally laid their hands on the elusive TotalEnergies CAF U20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament trophy following a hard-fought 1-0 win against Morocco in the final played at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo, on Sunday, May 18th.

In a repeat of the 1997 final which South Africa lost 1-0 against the North Africans, they earned sweet revenge after Gomolemo Kekana scored the all-important goal in the 70th minute after being set up by Fletcher Lowe. Apart from the 1997 final, Amajita had suffered four 1-0 defeats to Egypt in the group stages of the 2001, 2009, 2011, and 2025 editions.

South Africa, who were making their fifth final across CAF youth and senior tournaments having previously reached the senior finals in 1996 and 1998, defeating Tunisia and losing to Egypt, respectively, were the better side in the opening exchanges but poor finishing proved their main undoing.

Morocco, who reached the final after beating hosts Egypt 1-0 in the semi-finals, responded with a superb counter-attack in the 16th minute but Reda Laalaoui failed to finish off the great move.

The second period remained a closely contested battle with neither side willing to open up play. South Africa, who made it to the final after a 1-0 win over Nigeria, opted to sit back and tried to hit Morocco on the counter attack but the game still proved tight for both sides.

Mfundo Vilakazi came close to breaking the deadlock for Amajita after he exchanged passes with Neo Rapoo before unleashing a right-footed effort which Young Atlas goalkeeper Yanis Benchaouch Marty parried out for a corner.

Morocco were the first to make substitutions, Ismael Aouad coming in for Mouad Dahak, while Vilakazi was rested by South Africa for Thabang Mahlangu in the 57th minute.

But it was South Africa who had the last laugh when Kekana slotted home a superb delivery from Lowe to mark the second successive edition to crown a first-time winner, after Senegal’s triumph in 2023.

Nigeria overcome Egypt on penalties to clinch bronze

Nigeria ended the tournament with a bronze medal following a 4-1 penalty shoot-out win against hosts Egypt in the third-place playoff fixture at the same venue. The third-place playoff had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, before Nigeria kept their nerve in the shootout to secure their fifth bronze medal in U-20 AFCON history.

This was the sixth meeting between the two nations at the U-20 AFCON finals since 1993 with Nigeria’s Flying Eagles having won three previous matches, including group stage victories in 2009 (2-0) and 2023 (1-0), as well as the 2005 final (2-0).

Egypt’s only win came in the 2013 semi-final, where they triumphed 2-0, while their 2007 group stage clash ended 1-1. At the 2025 edition, Nigeria had won only one game in open play – their opening 1-0 victory over Tunisia. They drew their next two group games, 0-0 against Morocco and 2-2 with Kenya.

Their quarter-final clash against Senegal also ended in a 0-0 draw, with Nigeria advancing via penalties, before losing 1-0 to South Africa in the semi-finals. For the Young Pharaohs they arrived at the third-place play-off stage after losing to Morocco in the semi-finals, having edged Ghana on penalties in the quarter-finals.

Spurred on by a huge home crowd, Egypt started the game strongly, knowing that a win would guarantee them a bronze medal. With only three minutes played, the Young Pharaohs took the lead when Omar Osama Hassan Hassan latched onto a cross from Mahmoud Labib to score past Flying Eagles goalkeeper Ajia Soliu Yakub.

Egypt continued to be on top of their game and they almost doubled their lead in the 12th minute when Mohanad Mohamed Ahmed Aly missed an open sitter after racing through Nigeria’s defence, only for his shot to go inches wide.

In the 35th minute, Egypt’s Mohab Samy became the first player to go into the referee’s book after he was yellow-carded for a foul on Israel Ayuma. The foul resulted in a free-kick from outside the box, and a delivery from Ayuma should have handed Nigeria a leveller, but Egypt custodian, Ahmed Waheb, came out of his line to make a great save and deny the advancing Armiyau Armiyau.

Nigeria, who were contesting in their sixth third-place play-off match, having won it four times previously – in 1995, 2009, 2013, and 2023, continued to press for a leveller but the Young Pharaohs kept their defence shut to go into the half-time break with a 1- 0 cushion.

At the start of the second half, Nigeria coach Aliyu Zubairu made a double change, Divine Oliseh, and Bidemi Amole coming in for Baffa Armayau and Ezekiel Kpangu respectively. The double change paid off a minute later after Amole put the Flying Eagles level with his first touch of the game, off a cross from Oliseh.

Egypt coach Osama Nabieh made his second change of the day in the 60th minute after pulling out Mohanad Mohamed for Omar Khedr. Nigeria also responded by bringing in Kparobo Arierhi for Precious Benjamin.

This was Egypt’s fourth appearance in a third-place play-off, and they had won all three of their previous matches in this fixture, beating Ethiopia 3-0 in 1993 and 2-0 in 2001, and overcoming Mali 1-0 in 2011.

Nigeria converted all four penalties courtesy of Chukwu Emmanuel, Israel Ayuma, Kparobo Arierhi, and Maigari Adamu Bajibir while only Omar Khedr scored for Egypt. Ahmed Khaled Gomaa and Mohammed Atef failed to find the back of the net as their efforts were saved by Nigerian goalkeeper Ebenezer Harcourt.

The win marked Nigeria’s fifth bronze medal and 14th top-three finish in U20 AFCON history. It also continued their impressive record against host nations, beating Egypt for the second straight tournament. Egypt, meanwhile, failed to extend their perfect record in third-place matches and conceded for the first time at this stage.

Dennis MabukaFlashscore