For the fourth time in the history of the U20 Africa
Cup of Nations, Nigeria finished in third place as penalty shootout proved
another sure route to glory on Sunday night, with hosts Egypt as victims at the
30 June Stadium in Cairo.
Triumph from the shootout against Cup holders Senegal
in the
quarter-finals in Ismailia earned seven-time champions
Nigeria a ticket to this year’s FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Chile, and it came
handy
again after regulation time ended with a goal each way
in the classification encounter.
Osama Hassan shot the Young Pharaohs in front after
only 165 seconds of play, when a long ball from the back by Abdullah Boustenji
found Mahmoud Hemida, who spun the ball onto the path of Omar Hassan to find
the roof of the net, giving goalkeeper Ajia Yakub no chance.
The goal brought out the fighting spirit in the
Nigerian team, and
Clinton Jephta, Precious Benjamin, Sulyman Alabi and
Ezekiel Kpangu
combined to mount a series of onslaughts on the
Egyptian rear-line.
The Flying Eagles drew parity with less than two
minutes into the second
half, when energetic wing-back Adamu Maigari snatched
the ball from a sloppy Mohamed Saadoun and found substitute Divine Oliseh, who
found the
onrushing substitute Bidemi Amole to blast into the
net.
Oliseh, Alabi, Ayuma and substitute Tahir Maigana had
chances to earn
Nigeria the winner, but goalkeeper Ahmed Waheb was in
great form.
Nigeria dodged a bullet in added time of the second
half, when a
prolonged melee in the box saw the ball hit a defender
once and the
crossbar once, and then kissed the upright to go out
of play.
However, goalkeeper Waheb had no answer to the
Nigerian youngsters in the shootout, as Emmanuel Chukwu, Israel Ayuma, Kparobo
Arierhi and Tahir Maigana, in that order, scored all their kicks while two of
Egypt’s three kicks were saved by substitute goalkeeper Rufai Abubakar.
The Flying Eagles also won the bronze medals when
Nigeria hosted the
finals in 1995, and in 2009 in Rwanda and 2013 in
Algeria.
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