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WAFU B Tourney: Abdullahi Recovers In Hospital After Scary Injury

WAFU B Tourney: Abdullahi Recovers In Hospital After Scary Injury

Flying Eagles’ forward Ahmed Abdullahi has recovered and is recuperating in hospital following a scary incident during the Nigeria, Burkina Faso game at the WAFU B Championship in Niamey, Niger Republic on Wednesday.

Abdullahi, who scored Nigeria’s second goal against Cup holders and
African champions Ghana on Sunday after coming off the bench, was rushed to hospital after suffering a head injury during the 2-2 draw with the Junior Etalons at the Stade General Seyni Kountché.

“The player has recovered fully and is in good health, but he is out of the tournament. We went through several scary hours before and after he got to the hospital, but we thank God that he is fully recovered now,” Team Secretary Aliyu Lawal Ibrahim told thenff.com.

Read Also: ‘Honoured To Make The Super Eagles List’ –Enyimba striker, Mbaoma

General Secretary of the NFF, Dr Mohammed Sanusi was with the Abdullahi at the hospital and asked the player to remain focused and pray for the team to succeed at the tournament.

The 2-2 draw sustained Nigeria’s leadership of Group B, and the seven –time African champions will play in the semi finals as group winners should Burkina Faso fail to defeat Ghana by up to three goals on Saturday.

Ghana and Burkina Faso will clash in the final Group B game on saturday.


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COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 8
  • How can you say that he’s out of the tournament when you say that he has fully recovered and he is in good health.

    If he is fully recovered he should continue with the tournament. He is a good player and the team need the best legs.

    • Okokobioko 2 years ago

      I totally agree with you. This man doesn’t know what he’s talking about. See the fantastic goal that Abdullahi scored against Ghana. He went past at least three Ghanaian defenders to score the goal which got the Ghanaian goalkeeper stranded.

  • *The Business End Is Here*

    It is really great to see that super-sub Ahmed Abdullahi fully recovered from head injury and concussion suffered in the heartwarming 2:2 draw against Burkina Faso in this week’s Under-20 Wafu B Cup.

    Although Ahmed was expected to play a huge role for Nigeria off the bench in this tournament, he has now been ruled out in order to focus more on his health. I still recall in 2021 when the youngster came off the bench to score 2 cracking goals for the Under-17 against Ivory Coast in that year’s Wafu Cup.

    He will be sorely missed but I endorse the decision to rule him out; health comes first.

    In Ahmed’s absence, Bosso and his boys will most likely face Benin Republic in the semi-finals or a far more technical Ivory Coast depending on the results of the final round of group matches.

    Despite coming out relatively unscathed in the group stages, the Flying Eagles still have a long way to go to be really considered a well oiled and well drilled machine, but they are definitely on the right path.

    What will be a tragedy is for them to crash out thereby failing to secure one of the two Under-20 Afcon tickets on offer despite their modest but impressive start to the competition.

    All eyes are definitely on coach Bosso. The 49 year old serial Flying Eagles coach is already seen in many quarters as a failure, so failure to secure an Afcon ticket will not come as a surprise to these fans. But Bosso himself seems hell bent on proving doubters wrong and he was so close to securing all six points on offer in the group stages.

    But Burkina Faso, who reportedly have camped for far longer than Bosso’s boys, were always going to make their thorough planning and preparations count for something. Those Burkinabes are polished!

    Bosso was again out against Burkina Faso with his 4-2-3-1 formation which his team are now starting to settle into.

    Early in the game, they elected to go for quite a number of low and high crosses from the sides – one of which actually led to the first goal as Ibrahim’s cross from the right byline inexplicably landed in the net with the goalkeeper left disoriented.

    And Nigeria navigated the first half so skillfully to give the impression that the three points were already fait accompli.

    But Burkina Faso did come out strongly in the second half. The injury and concussion to Ahmed sort of disorientated the Flying Eagles a bit as a number of the players were visibly upset. But they regrouped to repel the marauding Burkinabes enough for the game to end 2:2.

    As for positives, Nigeria’s goalkeeper was again on top form. The defence was often exuberant and at times disjointed but determined they were in preventing serious incidents; despite the 2 goals conceded, they did a good job for the most parts and are quite dependable.

    The goalkeeper however should work on his handling skills as there were some potentially embarrassing moments. Also, whilst playing it out from the back is good, it does provide a measure of predictability and vulnerability. The Flying Eagles goalkeeper often plays it in a straight line to the defensive midfield who locates one of the defenders who then launches a long ball to midfield.

    If the ball is intercepted in a delicate area during that routine by an alert opposing striker, the Flying Eagles will be toast!

    Nigeria’s slow and methodical build up play is fascinating to watch but the Burkinabes closed them down and cut off their channels yesterday making it difficult for Bosso’s boys to sustain their rhythm in the second half. The Flying Eagles were troubled by this and it remains to be seen how they overcome this sort of counterstrike in future games.

    The Burkinabes made it difficult for them to transition from defence to attack as they did against Ghana and the Flying Eagles struggled to wriggle out of tight spaces.

    That said, for the second game in a row, a Nigerian player was named man of the match. In all, the Flying Eagles did what they had to do to get over the line but Burkina Faso pushed them all the way.

    How far can Bosso’s boys go before being broken? Will the wheels come off in the semi-final? I sincerely hope not.

    But it’s hard to be fully confident in this Flying Eagles outfit. They have done well thus far and have been pragmatic when they needed to. But you get the feeling that they can be picked apart by a better drilled outfit.

    The main litmus test will be in the semi finals. Scale that then anything will be possible. And maybe Bosso’s detractors might then start to have a rethink.

  • Title holders Ghana crashed out at the group stage of the WAFU B U20 Championship on Saturday when they were defeated 2-1 by Burkina Faso.
    The Baby Stallions scored late in the game at the Seyni Kountche Stadium in Niger to finish second in the three-team Group B and advance to the semi-finals.

    Captain Abdel Rachid Zagre was the hero for the Burkinabes as he scored in the 93rd minute to seal victory for his side in Niamey.

    The win means Burkina Faso finish second in the group as Nigeria top the standings after following their earlier 2-0 win over Ghana.

    The Black Satellites failed to find the much-needed victory needed to be able to advance from the three-team Group B of the tournament in Niger.

    Ghana vs Burkina Faso WAFU B U20
    They met a highly determined Burkina side as the Baby Stallions broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when Moussa Ky powerfully headed in tormentor Yacouba Konate cross.

    Konate, who had been a torn in the flesh of the Black Satellites, dribbled his marker twice before sending in a low cross for Ky to dive to head in for the opener.

    The Ghanaians responded to the Burkinabe threat by taking off left-back Emmanuel Agyei, replacing him with midfielder Alex Safo.

    The substitution instantly paid off as the substitute Sarfo restored parity for the Black Satellites with a perfectly timed shot from the edge of the box to the bottom corner just before the referee blew his whistle for halt-time.

    The two sides returned from the break searching for the winner and it was Zagre who struck late in the game to ensure holders Ghana crash out of the tournament without winning a match.

    Burkina Faso will now advance to the semi-final to face Group A winners Benin on Tuesday.

    The winners of the two semi-final matches will qualify to represent the WAFU B at the 2023 Africa U20 Cup of Nations.

    Egypt will host the 2023 Africa U20 Cup of Nations and all four semi finalists from the tournament will qualify to represent Africa at the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

    The 2023 FIFA World Cup will be played in Indonesia.

  • Ghana finally crashout of the u20. Noise neigbours were are they? Yew, selflon and co.

  • Nigeria Compounds Ghana’s Woes

    In what is probably a precursor of what awaits the Blackened Stars of Ghana at the World Cup in Qatar later in the year, their witless younger brothers the satellites, have been ignominiously dumped out of the Under 20 Wafu Cup without winning a single match.

    Let that sink in: this is the lowest level of Under-20 football that Ghana failed in, a team that is not alien to failure.

    It is going to be a tough year for Ghana fans and next year is not set to get better. And this is in no small part due to the misery brought on them by Nigeria.

    How, you ask?

    You see, in just a few months, Nigeria has been responsible for dumping Ghana out of, wait for it, 4, yes I mean 4 major tournaments.

    Almost hot on the heels of the fabulous Super Falcons of Nigeria dusting Ghana out of this year’s Wafcon and next year’s women’s world cup, the Flying Eagles have just compounded their woes by dumping one-time one-hit-wonder fluke Under-20 world cup champions out of both the Under 20 Afcon and the Under-20 world cup next year.

    Little wonder Ghana fans are sick to the stomach about Nigeria. I would be too! If a country brings me such misery, then I will rejoice at the slightest fluke result we manage to use archaic rules to squeeze out of them.

    Which is why Ghana’s fans will never get over thier fluke fettish inspired away-goals aided world cup qualification triumph over Nigeria.

    But Nigeria fans will have the last laugh without a shadow of doubt. This is because, long after the Blackened Stars have humiliated themselves and Africa in Qatar, the distinguished Super Falcons of Nigeria will go on to do Africa proud in the high profile women’s world cup next year. That will come after Nigeria has participated at the Under-20 Afcon and probably preparing for the Under-20 World Cup.

    Not to talk of the women’s Afcon that Nigeria would at least have won bronze or silver (while the Black Queens continue to lick their wounds at in Kumasi).

    The smokescreen will soon come off Ghanaian football to reveal national teams in shambles.

    The Flying Eagles dumped them out of 2 tournaments fair and square just as the Super Falcons hung their women out to dry. When next the Super Eagles meet the Charcoal Stars, there will be no away goals rule for them to run to.

    As the Super Eagles march towards restoration and recovery in the coming months, Ghana is moving towards the abyss. Their women’s football is in tatters and their Under-20 is a national embarrassment and a disgrace.

    All is left now for the Blackened Stars to crash out of Qatar 2022 in disgraceful circumstances then their whole rotten edifice will be revealed.

    But for today, well done Burkina Faso, well done Nigeria, bye bye Ghana!

  • This qualification format built around regional association need to be looked into.

    Ghana is already out and either of Ivory coast or Nigeria will also bow out next week.The best countries that will give africa good representation are thrown out using this political induced format.

    The same thing happened with the women team also where Ghana and Ivory coast female teams were thrown out.

    Let us revert to the former qualification format for major competition

  • Okokobioko 2 years ago

    DEO, I hail you for your write up about the Ghana midgets. They are so full of themselves that they need to look at themselves in the mirror. Nigerians are superior to Ghanaians in all respects, mostly in African and World football. If not for Uzoho’s blunder, Ghanaians will not be talking today. However, Starting with the Flying Eagles’ humiliation of the Ghana midgets, Nigeria is on the road to completely leaving Ghana behind. Pride goes before a fall.

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