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Nigeria to face neighbours, Benin in WAFU B U20 final…pick Egypt 2023 ticket

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 Nigeria’s Flying Eagles who beat Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 in a nerve-wrecking semi-final match will face western neigbours Benin in the final match on Friday.

 

Benin also beat Burkina Faso 2-1 to get to the final. The Flying Eagles sealed their place in the final after an energy sapping 2-1 extra-time victory over Cote d’Ivoire while Benin stunned Burkina Faso 2-1 in the first game of the day at the Seyni Kountche Stadium in Niger.

Nigeria’s U20 boys, Flying Eagles, on Tuesday night overpowered fit-fighting Cote d’Ivoire in an explosive semi final match to reach the final of the ongoing WAFU B U20 Championship in Niamey. The ticket to Saturday’s final also came with a ticket to next year’s Africa U20 Cup of Nations taking place in Egypt.

Ubiquitous midfielder Daniel Daga put Nigeria in front after only five minutes when he cleverly escaped the attention of the Ivorian defenders to nod in from a well-weighted pull out. The seven-time African champions then launched onslaught after onslaught on the Ivorian goal but failed to add to the tally, before the Ivorians equalized just before half time from an intelligently-taken free kick at the edge of Nigeria’s eighteen-yard box.

Neither team could find another goal to gain upper hand before the end of regulation time inside the Stade General Seyni Kountché, and the game went into extra time.

Forward Ibrahim Yahaya got the winner for Nigeria in the 111th minute of play when he tucked in from the penalty spot to make it 2-1.

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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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