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Nigerian Football

FLYING EAGLES EDGE MALI TO REACH WAFU CUP FINAL

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Nigeria’s U20 Boys, Flying Eagles, once more came from behind to excel, edging their Malian counterparts 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to reach the final of the WAFU U20 Cup Tournament in Lome, Togo on Friday evening.

Sambou Cissoko got the Junior Eagles of Mali in front after only 11 minutes at the Stade Municipal, but the Flying Eagles, who came from behind to tear apart Ghana’s Black Satellites 4-2 on Wednesday, were unruffled, and equalized two minutes into the re-start through Valentine Ozornwafor.

 

The tournament’s first semi final also went into penalties, as Senegal and Niger Republic ended it 2-2 in regulation time. Ousseynou Niang and Souleymane Aw netted for the Junior Lions of Teranga while Abdoulaye Salou Issah scored both goals for Junior Mena, who shocked Ghana 1-0 and held Nigeria to scoreless draw in Group B. In the event, Senegal prevailed 4-2 on penalties.

The results conspired to guarantee a second final clash between Nigeria and Senegal in a major tournament in three days, with both countries’ flags raised in the final of the CAF Beach Soccer Cup of Nations in Egypt on Friday afternoon. The final in Lome will take on Sunday evening.

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A remarkable final half of year 2018 for Nigerian Football has seen the Super Eagles qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations; the Super Falcons retaining the Women Africa Cup of Nations; the U-17 Boys winning the WAFU Cup to qualify for the 2019 U-17 AFCON and; the U-20 Boys qualifying for the 2019 U-20 AFCON.

The Supersand Eagles won silver at the CAF BeachSoccer Cup of Nations and qualified for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup; the U-15 boys won silver at the 3rd African Youth Games in Algiers and; the U-20 boys have now reached the final of the WAFU U-20 Cup Championship.

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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