U15 World Cup: Morocco and Algeria maintain perfect starts as DR Congo struggle

Morocco and Algeria continue to set the pace at the U15 World Cup, while DR Congo have suffered a third defeat in as many matches.

Morocco strengthened their position at the top of Group F with two convincing victories in Hovsan, Azerbaijan, on Sunday. The Atlas Cubs beat Costa Rica 4-2 before recording a 6-0 win over Belize in their second and third group-stage matches.

Said Noufii and Adam Mimouni both scored twice across the two games, adding to Morocco’s opening 2-0 victory against the Philippines.

Karim Meftal’s side have therefore won all three of their matches and lead Group F outright. Their remaining group fixtures are against Curacao and Liberia.

Algeria have also made a flawless start to the tournament, securing their third win from three games. After opening with a 1-0 victory over Argentina, the Fennecs produced two emphatic results on Sunday, defeating Suriname 0-5 and Taiwan 5-0.

Abdelkarim Meharzi has been central to their success. He scored twice in the first of Sunday’s matches and added four goals in the second, accounting for almost two-thirds of Algeria’s goals in the tournament.

Meharzi had also scored the only goal in Algeria’s opening match, taking his total to seven goals in the competition.

Those performances have put Algeria top of Group B on goal difference, ahead of Malawi. Malawi will be Algeria’s penultimate opponent in the first round, followed by Oman.

DR Congo, by contrast, remain without a point after losing all three of their matches. They were beaten 3-1 by Tunisia and 0-3 by Brazil before suffering a 2-3 defeat by El Salvador on Saturday.

The Leopards will next face Guinea-Bissau and Nepal as they look to end their difficult group campaign with a positive result.

Tunisia later defeated Guinea-Bissau 4-6 in another match involving Group B. Burkina Faso lost twice, going down 1-2 to New Caledonia and 3-0 to Lebanon.

Togo were beaten 0-5 by Czech Republic before responding with a 0-6 victory over United States Virgin Islands. Congo also lost both of their matches, falling 2-4 to Spain and 0-3 to Brazil.