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ONE MORE SLOT FOR CAF U-17 FIELD TO COMPLETE

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

 

In beating Ghana’s Black Starlets 3-1 on penalties on Saturday, Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets became the sixth qualifier in the field of eight expected for the 2019 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Tanzania.

Senegal in West Africa Zone A picked the seventh slot on Sunday after seeing off Cape Verde, 6-0 in the semi-finals of West Africa Zone A in Stade Ngalandou Diouf in Senegal.

The last ticket is being contested on Sunday night by Mali and Guinea in the other semi final of the group.

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What an irony it will turn when the draw is made and Nigeria and hosts Tanzania are in the same group. Coach Emmanuel Amuneke who guided Nigeria to a record fifth win three years ago is now the handler of all Tanzania national teams.

He also had a hand as an assistant when the Golden Eaglets won their fourth title in 2013.

Tanzania as hosts were the first qualifiers since getting the bid on May 26, 2015. It will be the country’s second outing in the competition apart from that of 2017.

Next to qualify is Angola from the Southern Zone which was decided on July 29 this year. Cameroon, from Central Zone followed on August 12 before that of Uganda on August 26. Two days later, Morocco also picked a ticket from the North Zone.

Nigeria will however be the most experienced side at the tournament since 1995 having attended eight of the nine editions.

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The only one the Golden Eaglets failed to qualify was that of 2017 when they were eliminated by Niger Republic.

Uganda will be the only debutant at the tournament.

 

 

 

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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