Head coach Nabil Baha and his players reflect on an astonishing match at the FIFA U-17 World Cup as Morocco downed New Caledonia by a record margin.
Morocco thrashed New Caledonia 16-0 on Sunday at the FIFA U-17 World Cup
FIFA caught up with Nabil Baha and three of his players to speak about the historic victory
Have to now wait to see if they secure a knockout stage berth
History. It is a word that is often thrown around lightly, but Morocco certainly penned their names into the history books on Sunday.
A 16-0 demolition of New Caledonia in the group stage at the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ is the biggest margin of victory ever recorded in an 11-a-side World Cup at any level.
“Ah yes, 15-0 is the record?”, Ziyad Baha asked FIFA, before being politely corrected that the score was actually 16-0. After scoring twice, the forward laughed as he admitted to forgetting the last goal, but he can be forgiven for being caught up in the euphoria of the moment.
Before this match, the record was jointly held by Spain, who beat New Zealand 13-0 in 1997 at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and USA, who also put 13 unanswered past Thailand at the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019™.
We did it! We didn’t embarrass the opposition. We approached this match like the others since we knew that we had to win to have a chance at qualifying. We’re really proud”, the attacker added.
The man in the dugout, Nabil Baha, echoed the striker’s sentiments, who also happens to be his son. “It's a huge source of pride, yes, but we could have won our other matches," added the head coach. “Even though we’re African champions, a World Cup is a different beast because the best players in the world are here.”
Morocco had endured a tough start to the tournament, losing their opening match 2-0 to Japan before being thumped 6-0 by Portugal — and these results left a lasting impression on the players.
“The first match hurt us psychologically. I don’t even want to speak about the second [match]...”, [Nabil] Baha admitted.
“It was difficult in the hotel afterwards to lift the spirits of the group, to be positive, to say to the players that they could still make something happen after two losses. The psychological aspect was important and I think that it made the difference today.”
Having not scored in their first two games, the Moroccans wasted no time in bagging their first goal of the tournament against the Oceania side when Bilal Soukrat opened the scoring in the third minute. “We scored really early on and that gave us the confidence we needed to go on and get the result”, explained captain Hamza Bouhaddi.
“We had a lot of success in front of goal — and we could have scored even more”, added Baha. “The opposition goalkeeper [Nicolas Kutran] had an exceptional game. Despite conceding 16, he made some top saves.”
With the score at 7-0 at the break, Morocco showed no signs of slowing down in the second half.
“At half-time, the coach told us not to let up and to keep going”, said Nahel Haddini. “He had confidence in us. It’s a source of pride for us and for our fans, who have always supported us — we had to give something back to them on the pitch.”
It was a goalscoring clinic from the young Moroccans, with nine different players on target — including Haddani, Oualid Ibn Salah, Abdelali Eddaoudi, Ziyad Baha, Abdellah Ouazane and Ismail El Aoud, who each netted a brace — along with a Steevy Andrew own goal.
Nabil Baha was keen to emphasise the feat achieved by his players despite their inconsistent and disappointing tournament: “You have to give the players credit. It’s important to make football history, whether with titles or with goals.”
