Ivory Coast edge Eaglets to win U-17 WAFU B tournament
BY Idris Shehu
The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria have been eliminated from the ongoing U-17 African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco.
The Nigerians lost 2-1 to Burkina Faso in the quarter-final match held at the Nelson Mandela Stadium, Algiers, Algeria, on Thursday evening.
The Nduka Ugbade fledglings failed to cancel out the brace from Aboubacar Camara and would miss the Under-17 World Cup set for later in the year.
The Eaglets started the game with a similar high-octane performance that helped them defeat South Africa 3-2 in the final group game.
Within the first 15 minutes, Abdullahi Abubakar and Charles Agada had watched their strikes hit the crossbar and woodwork respectively.
But the Burkinabes grew into the game and only a goalline clearance by Jeremiah Olaleke denied them the lead in the 39th minute.
Two minutes later, however, Burkina Faso pressure broke the fidgety Nigerian defence. A mistake from Tochukwu Ogboji served Camara with a chance in the Eaglets’ goal area and the Burkinabe pounced on it and gave his team the lead.
They doubled the lead in the early minutes of the second after Ogboji brought down Souleymane Alio in the goal area and Camara made no mistake from the resulting penalty.
Although Nigeria pulled one back through Abdullahi, the team failed to find the equaliser as Burkina Faso advanced into the AFCON semi-finals.
The Burkinabes will play Senegal in the first semi-final game while Mali are billed to battle Morocco in the other match.
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