Nigeria’s Flying Eagles qualified for the semi-finals of the 2019 U-20 AFCON and also secured a spot at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland following their 1-0 win over hosts Niger in their last Group A match on Friday, reports Completesports.com.
The Paul Aigbogun’s team posted another lacklustre performance despite defeating the Junior Mena in the crucial last group match.
Adamu Alhassan scored the only goal of the encounter.
The Flying Eagles missed an opportunity to get an early goal when Nafizi Yahaya missed their only clear-cut chance of the first half in the fourth minute.
In the second half, the seven time winners of the competition continued their unimpressive display until the 51st minute when Mohammed Jamil’s header forced a brilliant save from the Nigerien goalkeeper.
Also Read: U-20 AFCON: Aigbogun Focuses On Nigeria Vs Niger After Draw Vs South Africa
The Flying Eagles broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute through Adamu Alhassan’s free-kick that beat the Niger goalkeeper to hand Aigbogun’s side their second win in the competition.
Nigeria finish top of Group A with seven points. South Africa who beat Burundi 1-0 in the other matchday-3 game of Group A are second and advance to the semi-finals and also with a spot at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
The Amajita will clash with Group B winners Senegal in the semifinals.
The Flying Eagles will face the rummer up in Group B in the semi- final on the 13th of February.
Ghana and Mali occupy second and third spots in Group B and are both in contention for a second place finish having been tied on the same points.
By Johnny Edward
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COMMENTS
Nigeria vs Niger: 5 Things I noticed
1. It was the first real test for the Flying Eagles. Burundi was too inexperienced and South Africa didn’t care for a win. But the boys from Niger played like their lives depended on it. They akso had the fans behind them.
2. Statistics don’t tell the whole story.
Acording to the stats, Niger had 0 shots on target. But don’t be fooled by that. On many occasions, they almost scored. Luck and our die hard defence came to our rescue each time.
3. Many variations of the Nigerian flag on parade.
Our fans had light green flags, leaf green flags, square shaped flags and rectangular flags. Please which one is the correct one?
4. The Nigerian Jersey is truly the most stylish in the world.
The fans of Niger wore shorts designed like our world cup jerseys. The only alteration was that theirs was orange and green instead of the white and green of Nigeria. Copy cats!
5. The wild celebration of our boys.
They celebrated like they had won the World Cup. I wonder how they would have reacted if they had failed.
Thank God for the victory. Up Nigeria!
The flying eagles are a good team but need to put the ball on the ground.their biggest problem is they are eager to score more calmness they will win the AYC
Good results officiating was something else plus the rough plays by the Nigers. I hope we create more clear cut chances if we want our strikers to score.