The Flying Eagles got their 2023 U-20 AFCON back on track after pipping hosts Egypt 1-0 in their second Group A game on Monday.
Solomon Agbalaka’s second half goal secured the win for the Flying Eagles.
Recall the Flying Eagles lost 1-0 to Senegal in their opener.
They will now meet Mozambique in their final group game on Saturday, 25 February.
Egypt had the first chance of the game in the 14th minute but Rafaat Khalil volleyed his left-foot effort just over the bar.
In the 22nd minute Egypt won a free-kick in a promising area but Mohamed Hamdy’s dangerous cross was well saved by Flying Eagles keeper Chijioke Aniagboso.
The Flying Eagles had their first big opportunity on 25 minutes but Muhammad Aminu’s goal bound shot was saved by the Egyptian keeper.
Three minutes later Ayuba Abubakar raced into the Egyptian box but saw his low cross stopped by the opposition keeper.
In the 32nd minute Khalil collected the ball on the edge of the box, turned his marker but failed to direct his shot towards goal.
On 36 minutes Khalil had another chance as he beat three Flying Eagles players inside the box but shot wide.
With three minutes left in the first half Egypt had another chance but Ahmed Esho couldn’t connect with a dangerous cross.
The Egyptian came out more purposeful and almost took the lead on 63 minutes but the Flying Eagles keeper made a timely save.
On 66 minutes Ibrahim Muhammed went close for the Flying Eagles but his low shot from the edge of the box went just wide.
The deadlock was eventually broke on 71 minutes as Agbalaka connected with a powerful header from Muhammed Aminu’s corner
With four minutes left Flying Eagles skipper Daniel Bameyi made a timely clearance to deny an Egyptian player clear site on goal.
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COMMENTS
I said it that the lost to Senegal is a blessing that will make the boys take every game very serious.
Congratulations guys.
We’ll take the win.
Congratulations to the players for endeavor and desire!
But this team, I’m sorry to say is lacking in footballing IQ.
Our goalkeeper was the man-of-the match. Hopefully they get at least a point in their next match to trudge on.
Let it be noted that fans on the forum all wish our national team well. So if we speak when things are going wrong the public should know it’s from a genuine perspective. I’m glad we won because it brightens our chances of making it to the World Cup. But what about the overall team performance??? The Goalkeeper and Defenders saw us through by protecting the Goal with strange saves, clearances and the left back even going ahead to score the winning goal from corner since the wingers and strikers are nothing to write home about, wingers don’t know how to time their final balls they overhit their passes and the Centre Forwards both Adams and the latter do not know when to shoot and fake shot, this is real life football not PlayStation that you must cut when the goal is glaring. Bosso has to go on refresher course if we expect him to win the World Cup. Against Mozambique I hope the attackers win up their game and know when to shoot, how to pass, cross and do other basic things footballers do.
Bosso wants to destroy the football destinies of these OVERAGE PLAYERS. This goes to show that the success at WAFU B was purely done by Fatai Amao. Bosso has wasted all the tax payers money, camping a team for more than a month and you cannot see any technical input or team Chemistry/cohesion. No wonder people keep calling for his head before world cup proper. I saw the worst assemblage of U20 PLAYERS on Sunday and Today. Federal character will Finish Nigeria. Of all coaches in Nigeria, Bosso is the one in charge of U20. USUF U23. Yet they will never allow an Igbo man/or Yoruba men to handle two National TEAMS.
So na you born these “overage” players?
I cannot vouch for anyone’s age, but I know that you cannot verify everyone’s age merely by looks – not least because people have different physical characteristics, age differently, and all U20 do not look alike.
Anyway, it is said that if you keep calling your mother a prostitute, don’t be surprised if people call you a bastard. Nigerians are truly the WORST thing to happen to Nigeria! SMH
Congratulations to the Nigerian boys. Mozambique must be beaten to move forward.
We take the win and say congratulations to team and Nigerians.But honestly that is where it ends.Bare the goal keeper and one or two players, the rest have no business in the team . in all honesty, is this the best assemblage of our talents at this level?.Our previous players at this level play with arrogant skills, swagger and supreme team work.Can anyone compare this team with coach Siasia team? Ladan Bosso have not improved since 2007.
For starters, this Ladan Bosso under 20 flying eagles are all glaringly overaged players and it is a shame. The keeper should be challenging for super eagles 1st team shirt and not the under 20 flying eagles team. As far as the rest of the players are concerned, they have no business in the flying eagles. They are all overage and can’t even play football. I denounce cheating at any level. What I’m seeing in the tournament is the use of pure overage players and it is a big disgrace that this overage players don’t even know how to play football. “You go cheating at age grade football and you don’t even know how to do it well!”
Like someone already said, it is quota system, federal character, egunje, man know man etc that will kill Nigeria; not just in football but in every aspect of the Nigerian life. I must say that the NFF is purely responsible for the current eye sour that we are witnessing in Nigerian football. First, NFF gave us a quack coach as super falcons coach which they have refused to sack even after failure upon failure. Second, they gave Nigeria a Ladan Bosso who has not improved and won’t realistically improve (at least his current show of shame at this under 20 is a testament to this fact), and third, a questionable (until he proves us wrong) super eagles coach. The greatest of all the headaches that we are witnessing in football in Nigeria is the fact that the NFF itself has been built on a faulty and corrupt foundation. So where do we go from here?
Well said
Present us the proof that they are overage. If not i will suggest you keep quiet. Some of the Egyptians look way older than our players. Even the captain of Senegal looks like a grandpa. So please stop making our players a scapegoat
You people don’t like the truth. Nigerians like results or quick result if I must say. But they are not interested in the process used to achieve the results.
As to your question, my answer to your presentation of proof is Philip Osondu. I hope you know or remember him. There is this other player – Stanley Okoro, they called little Messi at the 2009 under 17 world cup in Nigeria. But he had problems establishing himself at the under 20 level. You know why these players had problems? Age caught up with them. So, continue to ask for proof when the answer is staring aal of us right in the face.
Thumbs up brotherman Josh. U said it all.
@Josh I will disagree with you on their ages.The number 14 Ogbelu is still at high school but if take a closer look at him you will assume he’s older than he really is.Daga his midfield partner is very young but he looks old.
This overage thing is just stereotype and it’s becoming boring these days.
I don’t know if you played the game in Nigeria?Because the hardship,weather and training rigour this players have to go through and remember most of them are malnourished all this could be responsible to the older looks you’re seeing which is deceptive.
There could be a couple of overage players but I’m sure most of them are within the age limits.
I don’t know how old you’re,however,If you played football I mean proper club football as a teenager in Nigeria,if you have photos back in your playing days please take another look at them and compare with the flying eagles players.
Meanwhile,their performances so far has improved so we should cut them some slacks.
Senegal and Egypt are tough sides and Egypt playing at home makes it even more difficult.Because we think we are the best team in the world makes our expectations high we should also respect other teams,we can’t win and dominate all the time.
The lose of Daga late in the first half affected the whole team because the team is built around him.Senegal took advantage of that hole to control the midfield in the second half but if you take a second look of the game despite going down 1 nil we were slightly ahead of Senegal in possession and attempts on goal.Had we taken our chances earlier in the first half,perhaps that could have changed the whole complexion of the game.
I agree the system is corrupt but even in a corrupt institutions you still find honesty.I don’t want to join with the stereotype it’s all corrupt,because I know there are people who are incorruptible and we shouldn’t throw all their hardwork in the bin.
I agree with you that hardship play a great role in the appearance, look and physique of Nigerian players and most African players at age-grade competitions . But to what extent does hardship affect the physical built of Nigerian and African players at age-grade competitions.
To understand the reason why some of us still question the age of these players, we need to do a comparative review of the players that represented Nigeria at the 1983 under 20 world in Mexico and the players we parade these days. Samson Siasia was part of that team even though he didn’t go to the world cup proper. We can tract his physical transformation from 1983 to 1985 and all through the time he played for the super eagles.
Again, at this level, there are basic skills like trapping, passing, or even breaking balls, that players must have. If some of these players lack these skills, why are they in the team?
@Josh if you free at the moment please turn your telly on to the Congo v Uganda game.I would like you to see their faces especially the Congolese thanks
It’s only in nigeria that people just looks at someone’s face and tell the persons age.most people shouting age cheat don’t even know the history of most of this players but they will all b shouting age cheat.as for the team the less i talk about bosso the better is this the team he dropped those foreign based players for?and why is ohaka not in this team?
The team has been very POOR and looks POORLY-COACHED thus far in the tournament.
Nonetheless, for those arbitrarily calling the players “overage” (on no substantive evidence than apparently that they are Nigerians and “look overage” – whatever that means, as if all U20 persons look alike), while I cannot vouch for anyone’s age, suffice it to note that Onuche Ogbelu was a SS3 student last year who sat for his WASSCE exams when he returned from the WAFU B U20 tournament, while Daniel Daga was at Community Commercial Secondary School in Ibiaku Itam (Akwa Ibom state) while he was starring for the Flying Eagles and winning MVP at the WAFU tournament.
One can hope that this team WILL get better on a match by match Basis it’s not all bad. I’ll classify this win as a solid one cos that’s what it is nothing more,there is still room for improvement especially on the midfield area but time will tell.
I think we should take it easy with our team.. I have seen a few games and I was admit, African football at this level is still very much behind esp the attackers.. Egypt had so many chances to score in their first game and in our game but they can’t even cross properly or shoot on target,. Same with our team.. the only team impressing me at this tournament is Senegal and they look very much as the best team at the level but they also have some problems with converting chances..
I think the Major problem was the COVID-19 break thAt prevented the last u20 tournament tournament to be play, it is over 4 years any u20 tournament was played and thjd has affected the quality of football in Africa.. I see lot of our defenders getting contract abroad in no distant time. Kudos to the team
Well said @Ololo
Our goal keeper is a joy to watch…He deserves a medal
kai Naija is blessed!! It is getting better!!
The team is good from defense to midfield but very poor in the finishing line. The Create very few chances. No shooters, no airial and ground finisher, and no support attackers. Or, they should kuku ma learn how to tika taka and score.
All this run run without game plan is the problem with this team, please our coach should do something before we are out of the game, because Egypt was on lucky