MATCH FACTS: Tunisia and Senegal clash at TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025
Tunisia and Senegal will hope to build on opening round wins when they clash in their second Group C game at the TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco 2025 in El Jadida on Friday (kick-off 17:00 local time / GMT).
This will be the first meeting at the TotalEnergies CAF U17 AFCON between Tunisia and Senegal.
Tunisia are facing a fourth different West African opponent having previously met Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. Tunisia’s record against West African opponents at the finals reads P4 W1 D0 L3.
Tunisia have won only won on their previous four games against West African opponents, a 3-0 win against Togo in the 2007 group stages. They have twice lost to Nigeria in semi-finals in 2007 and 2013. They also lost to Ghana in the 2007 final
Senegal have faced North African opponents four times before. Their record from four previous meetings against UNAF members is P4 W2 D1 L1.
Previously against North African opponents, Senegal lost to Egypt 2-1 and drew 1-1 with Morocco at the group stages in 2011 and 2019. On their way to the title in 2023 they defeated Algeria 3-0 at the group stages and won 2-1 against Morocco in third place match.
TUNISIA FACTS
· Tunisia began the finals with a 3-0 win over Somalia. Their victory over the Somalis was Tunisia’s joint biggest win at the finals along with a 3-0 win over Togo in the 2007 group stages.
· Tunisia’s win in their opening game has now seen them start each of their finals appearances unbeaten. In 2007 they drew with Gabon 0-0 and in 2013 won 3-1 against Botswana.
· Their win over Somalia was the first clean-sheet they kept in nine games; their previous clean-sheet was in their 3-0 win over Togo in their second group game in 2007. They had conceded one goal in each of their previous eight games.
· Their clean-sheet against Somalia was the third that Tunisia have kept at the finals.
· Tunisia have twice previously begun a campaign without losing either of their two opening games. In 2007 they drew 0-0 with Gabon and then defeated Togo 3-0, while in 2013 they won 3-1 against Botswana and 4-2 against Gabon.
· Tunisia’s record in their second group game at the finals reads P2 W2, defeating Togo 3-0 in 2007 and Gabon 4-2 in 2013.
· Fedi Tayechi scored a brace against Somalia in their opening game. He is the second Tunisian player to do so in their opening game at the finals along with Firas Belarbi, who scored two in Tunisia’s win against Botswana in 2013.
· Tunisia managed seven shots on target in their win against Somalia. Tayechi with two of them managed to score with both of his shots on target. He had a hand in all three of Tunisia’s goals in their opening game scoring two and making an assist for Anisse Saidi.
· Tayechi and Saidi together were involved in all three of Tunisia’s goals against as Saidi also made an assist for Tayechi’s first goal.
· Tunisia held 68% of the possession in their win against Somalia.
SENEGAL FACTS
· The defending champions began with a 1-0 win against Gambia in their opening game. Ibrahima Sow scored their only goal in the 7th minute.
· Senegal’s win over Gambia saw them begin with a win for a second edition in succession. In 2023 they started with a 1-0 win over Congo. Previously they failed to win their opening games in 2011, losing to Egypt, and in 2019 drawing with Morocco.
· With their win over Gambia, Senegal have now stretched their unbeaten run at the tournament to seven games (W5 D2). Senegal have won their last four group games at the finals.
· Senegal have kept five clean-sheets in their last seven games.
· Senegal last failed to win a game at the finals when losing their second group game in 2011 to Guinea 2-1.
· Senegal had won one of their first six games at the finals (L3 D2), in their last six games they have won five in open play and one game on penalties.
· Senegal have not conceded a goal in their last five group games at the finals but have scored eight goals in these games, a run that begun with a 0-0 draw against Cameroon in their final group game in 2019.
· Senegal have gone 459 minutes in the group stages at the finals without conceding a goal.
· Senegal appearing in their fourth finals along with 2011, 2019 and 2023, have a record in their second group game at the finals that reads P3 W1 D0 L2.
· Previously in their second group game, Senegal lost in both 2011 and 2019 losing to Burkina Faso 3-2 and Guinea 2-1 respectively.
· At the last finals in 2023, Senegal defeated hosts Algeria 3-0 in their second group game.
· Senegal’s second group game has traditionally produced goals with a total of 11 scored across these games, with them scoring seven and conceding four.
· Senegal have scored in all three of their second group games, netting six goals. While they conceded four in the first two, they kept a clean-sheet in their most recent one a 3-0 win over Algeria in 2023.
· In their win over Gambia, the Senegalese managed just one shot on target from which they scored.
· In their opening game win, Senegal had 64% of the possession. They also managed to complete 325 passes, while their opponents could only complete 143.
· Against Gambia, Ibrahima Sow won 15 duels no player won more than him in the game.
· Senegal’s Cheik Dieng made 49 accurate passes against Gambia, the most of any player in the game. He had a passing accuracy of 88%.