Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets got their 2023 U-17 AFCON off to a perfect start, after a dominant and hard fought 1-0 win against Zambia in Group B in Constantine on Sunday, Completesports.com reports.
Favour Daniel’s goal with less than 20 minutes left secured the win for Nduka Ugbade side.
The Eaglets also missed a penalty very late in the game as substitute Light Eke missed the opportunity.
Up next for the Eaglets is a clash with Morocco on Wednesday, May 3rd.
Just three minutes into the game the Eaglets had a shout for a penalty after Abubakar Abdullahi was fouled inside the box but the referee ignored the call.
In the ninth minute a ferocious shot from Emmanuel Michael narrowly missed the target.
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The Eaglets thought they had opened the scoring on 13 minutes but it was ruled out for offside.
Precious Williams had the chance to put the Eaglets ahead in the 39th minute but failed to convert.
With four minutes left in the first half a bullet shot from a Zambian player came off the Eaglets’ cross bar.
On 63 minutes Daniel got a chance but could not find the back of the net.
The breakthrough eventually came for the Eaglets on 77 minutes as Daniel pounced on a loose ball in the area to score.
In the 90th minute the Eaglets had the chance to double their lead but substitute Eke saw his penalty saved by the Zambian keeper.
32 Comments
Well done OMO NAIJA….
Ghana is watching lol
Congratulations guys.
Next time let Emmanuel Michael take the penalty. We all saw how good he was at WAFU when it comes to taken set pieces.
Well done Nduka Ugbade.
Well-done coach ugbade, Please train all the players on how to play penalty and don’t wait till nockout stage. This is the wright time for the players to know on how to take penalty.
Yep! They should also work on their final 3rd passes.
Good luck!
April 3rd is our next match! Ha!!! Ha!! Ha!
May 3rd you mean!
These Eaglets struggled against weakest side in their group.They sppeared to be admiring themselves in their new shirts. They have to play much better.
Zambia is not the weakest side my friend. I think they might make it out of this group.
That Zambian team you call the “weakest” actually beat Senegal 4-2 recently in a friendly,granted it was only a tune up game but it did show they are a class side that can play very good football as they showed today…so I wouldn’t call them weakest. The boys played well but got tired in the second half, Nduka Ugbade should do better with making subs on time
@Amadicancel, you are underrating Zambia. Same Zambia beat Senegal team few weeks ago 4:0.
They beat Algeria too by 4 goals.The Zambian team is a very strong side.
Pls go watch the game again I am not quite sure even if really watched the game, for u to say such thing
Zambia are COSAFA champions ooo. Also of all the teams I watched so far, Nigeria & Zambia seem to be the best. Zambia are wayy better than South Africa & Morocco. We have just played the strongest team in the group.
Zambia beat South Africa twice in the qualifiers
Congratulations for the win Eaglets.
Try to play more better in your next game.
Before the match i wondered how the golden eaglets were going to cope with Zambia’s quick combinations especially in midfield and if the Germanic gegenpress that Ugbade implements will be enough to stop the zambians but to my delight the zambians struggled to deal with the intensity of the Nigerian press all around the pitch,it was as if the GE were 22 on the pitch especially in the first half.
The problem we had was a lack of precision on the ball at times(underhit passes) which I know will be ironed out as the tournament progresses and some poor finishing and midway through the second half,the bane of intense pressing teams began to show which is fatigue,which leads to chaotic end to end phases in the match because there were no controlling midfielders who will slow things down and coach Ugbade reluctance to change things made it more nail biting until the goal so I’ll take the win at least these boys performed better than the Flying Eagles and hope for improvements as the tournament progresses.
Correct
The team is a delight to watch. I love their neat interchange of passes, especially in the midfield, They need to avoid too much touches in the opponents 18-yard box and be more daring and robust when approaching the goal area.They made it easy for Zambian defence to intercept ALL their cut-backs. We are supposed to win by at least 3-0 judging from their dominance. I hope they do well in the tournament.
The intensity and courage of this boys in commendable but they need to calm down when with possession and find the killer pass…… Abdullahi(number 8) is a jewel…..I just fell in love with him today and he needs to be nurtured to his full potential…..That guy will go places.
Morrocco just defeated South Africa 2-0 to set a titanic encounter with Nigeria on Wednseday. Best of mother luck to Golden Eaglet
I watched the game. Morocco are nothing special. They got a very fortunate penalty decision for their 1st goal, while poor goal keeping error gifted them the 2nd goal. The were not better than South Africa, just fortunate. Can’t see either Morocco or South Africa withstand Nigeria or Zambia.
I love the way these kids played today against a strong team like Zambia. The paneity taker was a complete letdown. He should not have been the one to take it. He was so casual as if nothing was at stake. We now must move on to beat Morocco in the next game. Ugbade should take time look at opponent team objectively to see their weaknesses/strengths and proffer a winning solution before the game begins. Morocco is expected to do the same to Nigeria as well. l really love the way we played today. Kudus Kids.
This is what I have been saying all this while kę. Nobody knows our weaknesses except ourselves. What a game. This is what we known for. Good football.
We have what it takes to excel in every aspect of our sports but integrity is what is lacking in the system.
Coach Ugbade is didn’t do shabby job about his selections.
When we have the coaches who can make our national teams stronger, why NFF decided to hired the foriegn coaches?
Why can’t NFF build our strength on our own instead of foriegn coaches?
It is a big shame when we have Amunike, Egbo, Marnu Gerba and Ugbade that can put things together to form a fanterbulous team for Nigeria but NFF because of their pockets, they hired somebody like Oga Rohr, Oga Paseiro? Chai. It is well. No wonder Super Eagles is struggling.
Anyway, time will tell. Congratulations to our own Oga Ugbade. Congratulations to our Golden Eaglets. The match was not an easy one but to God be the glory, we won it in the end.
I will urge our boys to be more calm in front of goal. Every opportunity counts. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Stop telling Nigerians that Oga Rohr was a failure as he was fired 2 weeks to a major tournament like AFCON which you and your cohorts advocated relentingly for. Oga Rohr left Nigeria at 32 FIFA rankings. What’s the present Nigeria ranking now? 42 the last time l checked. He is now the DeFacto the National coach of Benin Republic. Omo9ja, stop your baseless campaign against our highly regarded former coach as he is capable of taking legal action against you in the Court of Law. You can be liable. These articles can be assessed by our Nabour’s National Federation who may then probably view him in a negative fashion and thereby impute you and your cohorts as the one responsible. Nigeria has since moved on, Rohr has since moved on, omo9ja must move on or else. Put your thinking jacket on, my friend. Don’t be like flies who refused to live the dead body alone, until they are all covered together in the grave.
Long time Edoman my lovely friend, Edoman. Can you please read my comment again.
NFF must wake up and stop wasting our money.
Did you remember how much has been paid to Oga Rohr? What did he achieve? 3rd place ba?
The new one Oga Paseiro, are you convinced based on his performances so far? Why are we deceiving ourselves like this kę.
We have our own and if they are properly managed, they will surpassed the foriegn coach. That is my main point here kę.
Oga Rohr wasn’t the Nigeria greatest coach. Westerhof was. Followed by Jo Bonfrere. I used Oga Rohr as an example. NFF should believe in our own.
Those average foriegn coaches that can not coach female teams in Europe and America are the ones coaching our national teams here right? What a shame.
My darling friend Edoman, don’t be misguided. Did you not enjoy Our Golden Eaglets match? Our own are the real deal period. God bless Nigeria!!!
Agent Rohr was/is a VERY LIMITED coach, whose drab football sent the SE backwards. There’s a reason why he can only get national team coaching jobs in sub-Saharan Africa, and why he remained unemployed for about 2 years until Benin Rep came calling – and he has promptly led them to 2 pedestrian draws against minnows Rwanda.
PS: Btw, Shiabu Amodu led the SE to #16 on the FIFA rankings list.
What many people didn’t notice today was that a particular boy who was one of our hottest players in the wafuB in jubru azzez wasn’t listed for the game..
I was expecting him to fire today, but was surprised he didn’t make the team for today.. he is not among the wafuB boys That were dropped before the tournament as he made the selection to Algeria, but what really was the reason behind his no show today..
Why I got asking for his absence is that in the wafuB he was our best winger , and today we lacked the wing game that Nigerian football is known for… Was he injured?
Another player I was eager to see was Charles agada, he came in very late so not enough time to assess him.. he was regarded as the most dangerous player before the games started. I saw his video by some football agent and that boy really is deadly with a wicked shot from all directions.. why was he introduced late? We would get to know the reasons as we progress
Jubril Azeez has been injured for a while and was not even in the latest camp.
Getting results against a formidable team is the mark of a good team. Right from the only set, i knew this team was designed for success and the result is here for everyone to see. Do the right thing and you shall reep the rewards. Congratulations dear Golden Eglets. Do not allow this win vet into your head, there is still a lot of work to be done. I think the coach should teach the boys to take shots at goal from outside the 18yard box. The zambians studied us very well and that was why they were able to intercept most of our passes and crosses that were made. No doubt, Zambia is a very good side.
Manu Garba, Ugbade and Amuneke are our best youth coaches. That Laddan Bosso (or whatever) no follow at all!
Up Eaglets
Please NFF send this steam to Argentina abeg, i don dey panic over ladon bosso. omo see difference in display. They were way better than the flying eagles.
@Johnson, abegi let this team qualify for their own WC first, before we start making needless comparisons.
Wow, Nigeria won a match, and Self Made showed up and even congratulated us. This is incredible.