BEVERLY HILL, January 15, (THEWILL) – On Friday evening, Nigeria’s Under 17 youth national team, the Golden Eaglets, reversed a disturbing trend that threatened their chances of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying series: they won, rather than lost, by a slim margin.
Playing against the Under-17s from Burkina Faso, the five-time world champions, earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory in the final qualifiers to secure a place in the 2021 U17 Africa Cup of Nations to hold in Morocco.
Burkina Faso, who are defending champions of WAFU-B, fought resolutely to get an opener quickly so as to dictate the pace of the game but both sides failed to find clear cut chances in the first half and went into the break in a stalemate.
The second half was not entirely different by contrast as the cagey play of the first half continued. However, 13 minutes from time, a hero emerged from the fray as Michael Emmanuel Papo scored the only goal of the game, slotting the ball home to the dismay of the Burkina Faso goalkeeper trying to stop him.
It was a brilliant team effort that culminated in the goal as there were five passes in the build up to the goal netted by the Golden Eaglets number 8, Papo. The Burkinabes did not find the back of the net until the final whistle to the credit of the Eaglets.
Nigeria will know their next opponents after the other fixture between Cote d’Ivoire and Niger Republic. The winner of that match will clash with the Eaglets in the final of the WAFU B U17 Tournament at the Stade de Kégué, Lomé billed for Monday, January 18.
It was a good outing for the Fatai Amoo-led side which narrowly lost 1-0 to the Baby Elephants in their opener and played out a 1-1 draw with the Black Starlets in their second group game of the competition.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
