The Flying Eagles of Nigeria have booked their place at this year’s U-20 World Cup after edging Uganda 1-0 in Thursday’s quarter-final tie with Uganda, Completesports.com reports.
A first half own goal by Uganda’s Ibrahim Juma, earned Ladan Bosso’s side their third consecutive win of the 2023 U-20 AFCON in Egypt.
They are the second team to seal qualification to the World Cup after Senegal edged Benin Republic to become the first team to book their place.
The Flying Eagles will now wait for the winner of the quarter-final clash between South Sudan and Gambia.
Just 3rd minute into the game the Flying Eagles almost opened scoring through Ibrahim Muhammad but his left foot shot takes a deflection and goes just wide.
In the 7th minute Flying Eagles keeper Chijioke Aniagboso spilled a long range shot but quickly claimed the rebound before a Uganda player got to it.
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Uganda almost opened the scoring through Ivan Irinimbabazi but his point-blank header from a corner was superbly stopped by Aniagboso.
The Flying Eagles got their first shot on target in the 12th minute from a free-kick but the attempt was well held by Uganda keeper.
In the 22nd minute Ayuba Abubakar took a low shot which took a deflection before rolling into the arms of the Ugandan keeper.
The deadlock was broken in the 30th minute as Muhammad’s shot hit the post before deflecting off Uganda’s Juma and ending inside the back of the net.
With five minutes left in the first half Rilwanu Sarki sent in a dangerous cross which was cleared away for a corner.
Three minutes into the second half Sarki could have doubled the Flying Eagles lead, after the Uganda keeper failed to properly hold a cross but his effort left was cleared off the line.
In the 55th minute Uganda captain Isma Mugulusi tried a shot from outside the box which went off the target.
Uganda almost drew level on 60 minutes but Aniagboso stopped Mugulusi’s close range strike.
Aniagboso was called into action again seven minutes later as he stopped a shot on target.
With few minutes left to play the Flying Eagles won a free-kick in a promising area but the effort just missed the target.
By James Agberebi
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COMMENTS
Lets not always be quick to condemn our teams or players for having a bad day. Because as I have stated earlier a good team always bounces back . They lost their first game but so did Argentina Champions of last world cup. I strongly believe this boys will defeat Senegal in the final. Meanwhile congratulations for clinching the world cup ticket
What’s your definition of condemn??? If everyone was like you nobody will be honest even when they see wrong they’ll not speak the fact. If I go back to comments maybe you had complained as well but now trying to change your mouth. There’s no need when Nigerians ask for improvement from their team so keep this advice because your point is invalid. And the team still need improvement regardless of the semifinals ticket.
*There’s nothing wrong when Nigerians ask for improvement from their team….
The Goal Keeping and Defence is okay as usual but the attack needs some advice because if the strikers have good communication they’ll be creating and scoring a lot of goals. Congratulations for WC Qualification!!!
The goalkeeper is calm,cool,and collected.He inspires confidence,in fact he led and inspired the flying eagles to victory.
We need him asap in the super eagles where he truly belongs.Just like the saying “If you’re good enough,you’re old enough…
The Goal keeper’s maturity is something that reminds me of Vincent Enyeama but I doubt if they’ll invite this guy to SE. Ugo iwunze has not recovered from Election fever. Nigeria government has only succeeded in tarnishing our image with the recent election unrest.
@Chima E Samuel,Anigboso reminds me of Ike Shorunmu..Shorunmu in his playing days was calm and untroubled.
Well his super eagles chances depends on how well he develops after this world cup qualification tournament.
I wish him good-luck in his promising career.
Congratulations to Nigeria flying EAGLES, going forward, I must confess though we won, the general display was kindergarten-like football, there was clear absence of Good football sense/artistry, if this is a decoy to conceal the winning tactics against the next opponent, that will be great ingenuity on the part of the coaches but I this is all we could offer, then no point wasting time watching them at the world stage.
What happened to accurate passes and football trickery? BOSSO OVER TO YOU.
@Cyril Kasim,over to a man that has met his target of world cup qualification are you messing?His team is not perfect but aren’t as bad as most of you are making it.You should understand football has developed so much in Africa,so its no longer business as usual for the top teams.Senegal had to work their socks off to eliminate Benin.
I meant going forward, the apparent lapses should be taken care of if we must make appreciable impact at the world cup.
thank God they have qualified…my opinion though, the team needs to be overhauled….two many mistakes in the attacking front, no cohesion, to rhythm…somehow far from Nigeria standard. the goal keeper, very calm strong understanding with the defense….other departments along with the coaching crews needs overhauling biko
@sportradio88.0fm
Shame on you. You predicated that Nigeria would lost but we won the match.
Congratulation Ladan Bosso.
Congratulation guys
Congratulations Nigeria.
Please Ladan Bosso, before going to world cup get good number 9 and 10 for this team.
God bless Nigeria.
This Aniagboso of a chap impressed again today. Good goalkeeper, he is.
Apart from the defense line including the amazing and cool goalkeeper…. The guy on the left, others are just playing whatever comes to their heads, the abubakar guy with dreads that came into the game in the second half, should just remain on the bench.
This team better buckle up, because if they meet a well organized team, they will be beaten well
Congrats to the team for securing the world cup ticket.
Even though football has developed in Africa yet the performance of this team is below standard. We are not asking our team to beat others silly but we want our team to show skill and basic display of football. Am short of words to describe how unintelligent these boys play. It’s just gbosa to the front of the goal. None of the players can dribble in fact the team is an epitome of Elkanemi football club.Am not tribalistic and am also a yoruba ma but I know deep inside me that our best players are mostly from the eastern side and middle bet.Now am surprised at the names of Alhaji running ♀️ up and down with no direction and with fake leg over.Even the ibos in the team lack play sense. The only thing going for them is the energy they radiate. Too much energy they are like vibranium in black panther.
Weldon to the boy
Goalkeeper you’re doing great
Buh then you guys need to work in your strikers sometimes they are slow sometimes they lack what exactly to play
Good job ladan bosso
I beg to differ @respect is reciprocal.
This team won so many test games played across the country.Remember that they also defeated the likes of Zambia,Congo who are still in this playoffs,they have only lose once in 23 games,they finished as champions from the wafu zone B which qualifies them to this final playoffs in Egypt.The team has got the world cup qualification in the bag yet you guys are still moaning unbelievable!
Meanwhile,should they lose the next game they have achieved the set goal,world cup qualification!!
The build up to the world cup starts today.A few additions will come in where necessary,the good thing is that we have discovered a quality,safe hands for the super eagle which is in dire need of a quality glovesman.A few other discoveries epecially at the central defence where our quality is fast waning in the senior team.
Bosso is an honest hardworking experienced tactician,it’s unfair to call him a tribalist.People this days are so quick to call someone a tribalist and it hurts when you’re not.
However,there’s all to smile about in this team.
This team will bring shame to more organized and technically sound teams in the world cup so what everyone is saying here shows that we really watched the match not the result.
Moving forward, the coaching cree needs beeter skills
Everybody saying the same thing the flying eagles lack this…the flying eagles lack that.you know what..the flying eagles lack nothing,they are the best in the world at what they do,you guys think it’s easy to coach a group of players from different teams across Nigeria,it takes months not weeks to build relationships which leads to cohesion which leads to good football so we should praise these guys e no easy and yes we do need improvement in midfield and attack but let’s give credit to where it’s due.
With this kind of thinking, you cannot lead a place towards progress and greatness. You celebrate mediocrity and poor quality
I did not celebrate anything all i did was call out unfair criticisms of the team by some of us here. If you’ve followed my comments on this team you’ll see that i myself don’t like the way the team plays but nonetheless they deserve praise for achieving their objectives. It’s one thing to play badly and win,it’s another to play badly and still lose or would you rather “celebrate” a team that plays well and still looses.
People condemning those criticizing the team should wait for a minute. No one who has thrown a flak at this team hates them. Far from it. But by the standard we’ve set in the past for a good Nigerian age-grade team, this team is still a far cry from what an ideal Flying Eagles should be. They lack basic footballing sense, that purposeful football possessed by teams raised by Samsom Sissia and even Ladab Bosso in 2005 and 2007 respectively.
Their decision making in the final third is so poor. You’ll see a player with the option of releasing the ball to other players in a tight situation, but will choose to take on the opponents surrounding him. Most of their clearances are hasty and without purpose. They launch attacks as if there were no opposing players before them. And their midfield had been horrible. The easily lose the ball and won’t defend that ball until the opponents get close to the box. A lot of wasted chances too. They’ve come this far because apart from Senegal whom they Lost to, the quality of otherteams in this competition has been very average. Most Nigerian u20 and u17 teams are a joy to watch. Even when they lose, there’s alwyays something to cheer about. This team looks quite different. Let’s hope they’ll get it right before the WC. I congratulate them, however, on their qualifhcation for FIFA u20 WC to be hosted later in the year by Indonesia.
I will recommend you to take over from the coach it’s seems u know far better than him i guess
It’s my opinion Bro, you reserve the right to yours. We can’t see things the same way. Kindly respect that.
WHen you have all Aboki’s upfront, how do you expect to get goals. That number 7 is just so clueless. Just so annoying watching him. And that guy from Genk or Gent must not attend the world cup. We won this game by luck. The MOM was the goal keeper and he is way better than the ones we have.
This team is poor. They can’t coordinate attack into the 18 yard box, can’t shoot on target, don’t pass the ball, only run like antelope chasers, and use force with deep lack of tactics.
Lucky to get the WC ticket. May be lucky to win the CAF. But must be overhauled after the tournament.
Nigeria has too many better young players to be represented by these mdiocres.
Haha Ladan Bosso, where from you get these players and how you take teach them to play ball na? They are athletes more than ballers
World Cup Ticket In The Bag, What
_ Next? _
Since the Wafu Zone B U-20 tournament last year, Coach Bosso was never shy to admit his team’s midfield inadequacies against more compact and better drilled oppositions. Hence he elected for route one football whenever chips were down which contributed to the team’s Wafu success.
With the time he has had to prime the team for this Afcon, I would have expected him to address this ‘elephant in his midfield-room” but alas the pothole remains.
So, yesterday against Uganda, the plan of the Flying Eagles was predicated on going long and high and also taking pot-shots from long range.
Again, the proof was in the pudding as a long ball from the left fullback travelled above the entire Ugandan midfield and defence apparatus, landing kindly for Nigeria’s winger whose shot cannoned of the post and a hapless Ugandan player before nestling in the net. 1:0 to Nigeria.
With so much hype surrounding the Ugandan team, they could not fashion out an equaliser with a whole 60 minutes of football left to play.
But, but, Uganda carved out some neat and beautiful moments of scoring chances and clever and commendable interplay of passes that saw them perforate Nigeria’s defense deep inside the 18 yard box. Only weak and feeble shots from their strikers on key moments saved the day for Nigeria.
Such delicate, neat and classy incursions into enemy territory were few and far between from the Flying Eagles against Uganda. Instead, they went long on many occasions and in truth they manufactured some through passes to their wingers from midfield but the stepovers and movements of our strikers were well mundane and curtailed by the Ugandans.
The much vaunted Nigerian goalkeeper showed some vulnerabilities to his game when he spilled a harmless shot before redeeming himself to gather the ball and then later produce a sublime save from a header off a corner kick later on. Several other shots aimed at him yesterday were feeble and saveable to be honest.
It is way to soon to throw the goalkeeper in the deep end of full international football in my humble opinion. Bosso will face far technical sides in the world cup where the goalkeeper will have to earn his onions. For now, he has been okay and his all round performance has been commendable.
If Bosso elects to stick with route one football, there is nothing wrong with that, I will just suggest that they work on their deliveries. Yes route one delivered the goal yesterday but very many of their long balls from one wing to another, defence to attack and defence to the flanks failed to hit the mark. If they work hard and hone the accuracy of their long balls, then opponents (particularly short players) will find them hard to cope with.
Nigeria has qualified for the Under-20 World Cup. This is big deal! In doing so, the Flying Eagles dashed the hopes Egypt, Mozambique and Uganda, teams that have or had realistic chances of grabbing a world cup ticket.
From navigating last year’s Wafu Cup against hostile, bitter and formidable West African opponents to coming to Egypt and seeing off teams who themselves fought their way tooth and nail into this Under-20, the achievement of Bosso and his boys can never be overemphasised.
So, a big thank you to them for giving me, us the fans, something meaty and exciting to look forward to in May.
So, what do we have to look forward to? The team’s brand of football has been underwhelming; it has not been soul-satisfying. In offensive play, they have lacked imagination and they play as if their midfield is non-existent. Their style of play is not discernible and their pattern is not free flowing.
At this level, you expect winning results laced with flair, gravitas, mastery of basic football techniques and sophistication from a Flying Eagles team. The winning results are there which we genuinely thank Bosso and boys for. But the other elements that have become a staple and identity of the Flying Eagles team over the years are sorely lacking.
Like I said earlier, Bosso appears to have a penchant for route one football. There is nothing wrong with that (although a large body of Nigeria fans hate route one football). But for me, if that is the case, then he needs players that can execute this philosophy with flare, mastery, competency and sophistication whilst concurrently achieving results.
It seems incredibly harsh and counterintuitive to criticise a coach and a team who continually hit their targets. Praise has to go to the entire team for their never-say-die attitude, their dogged determination, patriotism and winning mentality.
But you get a sense that there are Under-20 footballers in Nigeria and diaspora who can get winning results and do so with a more compelling, mesmerising, refined, more visually appealing and better coordinated brand of football.
For now, Bosso and his boys deserve praise. They are in Egypt to clinch a world cup berth and that they have done, any other thing is secondary.
That said, for them not to just go to Indonesia to make up the numbers, a radical overhaul of the team’s pattern of play is required.
Well written Deo the problem is Ladan Bosso doesn’t train players or correct mistakes. We’ve been complaining of the teams final delivery and decision making which to me needs to be fixed to avoid embarrassment, yet we keep seeing the same scenario when a player doesn’t know better passing option, Mistimed passes, Poor pass accuracy or players don’t know when to shoot aside the match against Mozambique that they were afforded room to shoot. Intelligent teams will not give you such room like cunny Senegalese did and let’s not forget what Netherlands did to one of our junior teams at the u17 World Cup were they taught us soccer. The GK will grow even further provided he is not often exposed like Salernitana always expose brilliant Ochoa. If a team is too expose the gk will surely concede that is why I am glad he knows how to organise his defence and showing the opposite of Akpeyi.
Congratulations to these Young lads, i disagree to condem victory, a victory that was earned with a classic intelligent display from njuku to ibrahim who is gradualy becoming the nigeria mbape, controled the ball and bit the opponent to fire down the winner. I love this team, though they need to improve in team play and goal scoring, but the aim of this age football is to discover talents and this team have great talent. Our midfield was weak in that uganda game bcos ogbelu casimiro was tired, the guy have worked so hard in the previous games, normaly with daniel daga he doesnt need to do so much deffensive work, but daga has been injured since Senegal match, arminu who replaced him is verry out of form he loses the ball easily and he is the author of bad final balls , almost like minus one living ogbelu alone to suffer, our midfield was originaly build around daga who is injured, despite the situation arminu and lawal have managed to see us through which they deserve at list thank you for that. Moving forward we hope to see return of daga in the nest match, the team lacks a good striker! that can also affect ur wingers bcos the winger need a good striker to shield and give them pisitioning options, no good winger will want to release the ball if the striker position is not favorable, this also hapens with super eagles if you are a vigilant fan, you will notice that our wingers struggles whenever osihmen is absent, they dont get that quality from the rest eagles strikers, if your striker is a treath the two defenders will always keep eyes on him, but if he is toothless and ur wingers are good, the opponent will risk more men to mark ur wingers out expecially when you lack a good attacking midfielder that can easily release them. This was exactly desame situation with eguavon eagles. In the absent of osihmen and iwobi our wingers struggles alot, expecially when our oponents noticed that we lack in 9 and 10 they sent more men to lock the wings. Now talking of quality, these wingers(ibeji and sarki) where able to creat some things despite the lockdown they could shoot from far, interchange wings and work together, far better than moses simon and chukueze combinations in afcon 2021 in cameroun one way traffic wingers, however a winger needs the number 9 and 10 to free their selves in difficulties. If daniel daga returns our midfield will be balance and i will advice the coach to switch ibrahim muhamad to center forward and allow sunday and sarki to play the wings! That is the only option available to improve the attack in the next two games, i hope crystal palace will releas eboiwi for the wcup