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U-17 AFCON

Golden Eaglets are a match away from World Cup ticket

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FIFA U-17 World Cup record five time winners, Nigeria are a match away from achieving their first objective at the ongoing CAF U-17 Nations Cup.

The primary objective is qualify for the U17 World Cup which originally was to hold in Peru, but now awaiting new hosts.

If Nigeria beat Burkina Faso on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the African competition, they will qualify for the global event in addition to getting to the semi-finals in Africa and aiming for the secondary objective of winning the CAF cup for third time.

It may however not be easy as the Burkina Faso coach, Brahima Traore has promised a fight-to-finish battle in Algerian city of Annaba on Thursday.

He told a post match conference on Sunday night after eliminating defending champions, Cameroon that his team’s  primary target remains clinching a ticket to the FIFA World Cup, and this will require them to beat Nigeria, who they face in the quarter finals next Thursday in Algiers.

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“We had two objectives in this tournament; first to get to the semi-finals and then to fight for the title. We will prepare well for Nigeria to enable us get to the semis and earn the World Cup ticket,” noted the tactician.

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.