Morocco and Mali secured comfortable wins in their opening matches at the FIFA U17 World Cup in Indonesia on Friday morning.
Morocco sealed a 2-0 win over Panama in Group A while Mali romped to a 3-0 triumph over Uzbekistan in a Group B fixture.
Saifine Chlaghmo scored the first goal of the tournament with his opening strike for the Atlas Lions in the 16th minute and Ayman Ennair put an icing on the cake with his stoppage-time goal that made it 2-0 for the North Africans.
At the Stadion Manahan, Mamadou Doumbia ran the show for Mali with his individual brilliance that led to the first hat-trick of the tournament. Doumbia capped a commanding first-half performance with the only goal that came on the half-hour mark.
The 17-year-old stepped up to convert from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute and he bagged his third goal of the day, three minutes later.
The Eagles of Mali dominated the entirety of the game with 28 attempted shots compared to Uzbekistan’s two shots.
Next up for Mali is another Group B match against Spain on Monday, the same day Morocco will battle Ecuador in East Java.
