Flying Eagles seek Egypt 2023 ticket against recurring nemesis, Cote d’Ivoire

Nigeria’s Under 20 sides, the Flying Eagles will be attempting to halt a chain of eliminations by Cote d’Ivoire when they face their fellow West African sides ar rhe WAFU B Championship semi finals holding in Niamey Niger Republic on Tuesday.

Sports Village Square recalls that Cote d’Ivoire eliminated Nigeria’s Super Falcons from qualifying for the women’s football event of Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The same fate befell the U23 team as they were also eliminated from the qualifying for Tokyo 2020 during the African qualifiers in Egypt in 2019.

Now as Group B winners of the ongoing WAFU tournament, Nigeria must beat Cote d’Ivoire, the Group B runners up in order to get to the final. The two winners of the semi-finals will qualify for

2023 Africa Cup of Nations u20 tournament scheduled to hold in Egypt from 18^th February – 12^th March next year.

Only the two finalists from the WAFU B tournament will qualify for the eight-team finals in Egypt. Should Nigeria fail, only Francophone  teams will represent West Africa Zone B in Egypt.

Ladan Bosso’s wards will file out against the Ivorians at the Stade General Seyni Kountché at 8pm, after the first semi final between Benin Republic and Burkina Faso at the same venue.

Ibrahim Muhammad and Ahmed Abdullahi scored the goals that consigned African champions Ghana to a 2-0 defeat last Sunday, before the Flying Eagles drew 2-2 with Burkina Faso on Wednesday. The latter’s 2-1 defeat of Ghana earned them a place in the last four.

Despite scorer Ahmed Abdullahi’s injury that has knocked him out of the tournament, Coach Ladan Bosso is confident that his boys will rise to the occasion against the Ivorians and pick a ticket to Egypt.