Nigeria’s Flying Eagles and the Junior Atlas of Morocco played a 0-0 draw in their second Group B match of the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt on Sunday.
The result means Morocco, on four points, lead the group while the Flying Eagles, also on four points, are second.
Tunisia, who defeated Kenya 3-1 in the early kickoff on Sunday, are third on three points and Kenya occupy bottom with no point.
Kenya are now eliminated from the competition following the defeat to the Tunisians.
The Flying Eagles will take on Kenya in their final group tie on Wednesday, May 7, while Morocco will face Tunisia.
Coach Aliyu Zubairu made two changes as Precious Benjamin and Israel Ayuma replaced Kparobo Arierhi and Caleb Ochedikwu in the starting line-up.
Benjamin went close to marking his first start in the tournament with a goal on 21 minutes but his well taken free-kick went just over the bar.
Also Read: Kane Secures First Major Title As Bayern Are Crowned League Champions
Morocco almost took the lead in the 28th minute but Flying Eagles captain Daniel Bameyi made a timely clearance to deny a clear scoring chance for the North Africans.
In the 34th minute Benjamin failed to connect to a low shot from outside the box.
With three minutes left in the first half Emmanuel Chukwue rose highest buy could not direct his header from a corner towards goal.
Then with one minute left in the first half Benjamin ran on to a long pass but saw his low shot palmed away for a corner kick.
In the 51st minute Odinaka Okoro made a crucial clearance as a Moroccan was set to slot home from close range off a low cross.
Both teams continued to probe for the opening goal but the defence of both sides stood firm.
Divine Oliseh then burst into the box on 73 minutes and went down inside the box following a shove on his back but the referee waved appeal for a penalty.
In the 90th minute Ayuma tried a shot from outside the Moroccan box but it failed to trouble the keeper.
By James Agberebi
8 Comments
On what grounds na??
This flying eagles team is not inspiring at all. They lack creative vision and zero talent . Corruption has eaten deeply into our systems and has ruined our beautiful country. Everything is based on man know man and money exchange hands. We have a long way to go. Imagine players that can’t complete three passes in their second consecutive game. It is a shame,disaster awaits Nigerian football. I guess NFF is no longer interested in the development of our football instead they have resolved to depend on foreign born players while they use our youth teams to do their dirty dealings even the super eagle is not exempted from their dirty shading deals
The Flying Eagles continue to ease themselves into this tournament with underwhelming performances that have positives in areas.
The team has a decent centre back pairing. As a unit, they are compact as they are quite adept at keeping teams at bay.
Hence Morocco struggled to carve out clearcut chances against this Flying Eagles unit.
Upfront, their routines aren’t polished enough to help them carve out neat scoring chances. They seemed to rely on their physicality and athletism to plough through which failed to ruffle Morocco.
It will be all too easy to hammer this Flying Eagles with sharp rebuke. That would not do justice to their positives.
Truth be told: this team is hard to beat. That said, their coach hasn’t injected them with enough trickery, ingenuity and inventiveness up front to distabilise defences.
As the tournament progresses, perhaps Coach Aliyu should just go back to basics. Long balls, crosses from the byline or cutbacks.
Some of these we attempted against Morocco, but the executions left a lot to be desired.
Anyways, well done to the Flying Eagles for a decent outcome against mighty Morocco.
Areas of massive improvements remain but the building blocks are there and this team is moving in the right direction.
Any time we give out national team to Aboki to handle them we see kick and follow football. They just manage to get fit and strong players and possibly over age then the rest is kick and follow football.
I tire for this country.
We don’t need physically built players but intelligent players like Spain or Barcelona their players are skinny yet strong and they win matches
To be honest following Nigerian football is frustrating and heartbreaking ..I’m done with Nigerian football and anything that has to do with this country.. Nothing longer works, everything is done negatively upside down.. I wonder why reasonable humans can not just do the right thing for once !!! Everything or avenue is seen as a medium to make quick money… It is really devastating being a Nigerian soccer loving fan .. The only thing that gives us joy has been hijacked by the evil and corrupt cabals ..
@ Deo , I respectfully disagree with some of your analysis. This team was total crap.Don’t know the game you watched but this team is nothing to write home about. From the jittery goalkeeper, to the useless forwards who are just selfish looking for glory. Don’t even think we stand a chance against kenya
Thanks Boboye. To be honest I have been unimpressed with this Flying Eagles’ performances in the 2 games played.
That said, I genuinely think they have redeeming qualities.
Yesterday, through raw grit and physicality, they curbed Morocco and stopped them from getting into a rhythm long enough to create credible scoring chances.
Our centre back pairing is good. The goalkeeper is manageable and the defensive midfield infrastructure is decent.
What they lack are well refined routines to pry open defences. The infrastructure set up by coach Aliyu to manufacture scoring chances is unrefined. It’s easy to blame me wingers, strikers and attacking midfielders. But their movements upfront are a reflection of the instructions of Coach Aliyu which lack sound technical input.
Again, I think Coach Aliyu should go back to the basics upfront.
At the back, they are sound, they need more ingenuity upfront.
No @Boboye, this Flying Eagles team is not crap, never mind “total crap,” as you claimed. The team showed much respect to the Morrocan team and deservedly so, because the Moroccans are a star studded team tipped by football analyst to win the Afcon title, considering the pedigree of individual players in the Morrocan team- majority of them already playing for top teams in France and Spain even at such young ages.
I believe you will see this team doing well from their next match against Kenya and in the knock out stages starting from the quarter finals.