NIGERIA QUALIFIES FOR AFCON 2023

The Nigeria under-20 national team has qualified for the U-20 African Cup of Nations billed to take place in Egypt in 2023. The Flying Eagles needed an extra time penalty to be Ivory Coast 2-1 in the semi-finals of the WAFU B U20 AFCOn Qualifying Tournament in Niger

The keenly contested match between Group B winner Nigeria and Group A runners-up Ivory Coast ended at 1-1 at full time from the two classy goals scored in the first half.

The Flying Eagles were the first to draw the first blood, after Daniel Daga headed the coach Ladan Bosso-tutored side in front from a corner kick within the opening five minutes.

Despite creating several chances, the Nigerians were wasteful in front of goal, and the Ivorians soon made them pay.

On the stroke of halftime, the Elephants converted a beautifully taken free-kick that had the goalkeeper rooted to the spot just at the edge of the penalty box to make it 1-1.

The second half saw, the Flying Eagles firing from all cylinders but the Ivorian goalkeeper and the defenders stood like the rock of Gibraltar, refusing to be broken. There were also scary moments on the other sides with the Ivorians breaking away occasionally but the Bosso boys were lucky to survive the counter-attacks.

Again, the Flying Eagles dominated the opening half of extra time but failed to bury numerous scoring opportunities.

But a few minutes into the second period, Nigeria regained their lead through a penalty kick and held on to book a place in the final.

With the win, the Flying Eagles have booked their place at the 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations billed for Egypt.

The Flying Eagles will now face Benin Republic’s Baby Squirrels in the final of WAFU Zone B qualifiers on Friday in Niamey.

Benin Republic also defeated Burkina Faso 2-1 after extra time in the first semi-final match and secured qualification to the Africa U20 Nations Cup in Egypt.

Comments

OSIMHEN SHADES IKPEBA OVER BICYCLE KICK COMMENTS

Super Eagles and Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen has thrown shades at ex-Super Eagles striker and former African footballer of the year, Victor Ikpeba for saying he would have scored against Ghana at the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers against their West African rivals in Abuja The Super Eagles of Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after playing 1-1 against Ghana in Abuja on Tuesday, 29 th March, 2022. The former Borussia Dortmund and Monaco striker believed that Osimhen would have scored, if he had controlled a chance that fell to him on one of the occasions he decided on bicycle kick which went wide. In reaction, Osimhen had taken to his Twitter and Instagram page to shade “the Prince of Monaco” by saying in Yoruba “adie funfun ko mo ara re lagba” which indicates Ikpeba does not know his respectable position. On Osimhen’s instagram handle, the Super Falcons’ Barcelona Femenine striker responded to join in the shading, by jokingly telling Osimhen that “Werey dem

AHN JUNG HWAN: WHEN COUNTRY ALLEGIANCE COSTs YOU A JOB Telling the 2002 FIFA World Cup stories, you will be telling no stories without talking about the underdogs who shocked the world and made it to the Semifinals, South Korea. Someone would say they were one of the hosts but Japan was the co-host and they could not go past the second round in spite of easier opponents. From the Coach Guus Hiddink, to goalkeeper Lee Woon Jae, Captain Hong Myung Bo, World Cup revelation Ji Sung Park and the whole South Korean team, none other became popular like the former Perugia star. Ahn was an attacking midfielder who also played as a supporting striker. When Ahn was going to represent his country at the 2002 South Korea/Japan FIFA World Cup, he could not imagine that he would never play for Perugia again due to a goal he would score in the tournament. Ahn Jung Hwan joined Perugia on loan from Busan Daewoo Royals in his native South Korea in the 2000/2001 Season. He had always had racism

1978 WORLD CUP: THE POLITICAL ACCORD

ARGENTINA v. PERU: THE POLITICAL ACCORD Yesterday we brought you the conspiracy that did not work but today, we are bringing you the conspiracy that worked and only discovered after a very long while, when it is too late. Although it was a World Cup qualifier yesterday, today we are taking you to the second round of the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina To appreciate what we are talking about, we need to explain the format of the FIFA World Cup those days. The World Cup did not have a clearly established format as it is today; the format is based on each World Cup as decided by the organizers. The 1978 World Cup format was such that the 16 qualified teams would be divided into four groups of four teams each. The winners and the runners up of all the groups would proceed to two groups of four teams. The winners of the Second round groups would proceed to the final. A winner of any match would be awarded 2 points while a draw attracts 3 points. Where there was a tie in points teams

SAVEPLAY SPORTS

Search This Blog