Nigeria’s U-20 boys, the Flying Eagles, on Sunday defeated the Baby Cheetahs of Benin Republic 4-1 in their final group game of the ongoing WAFU B U-20 boys Championship to book a place in the semi-final.
Junior Olugbade’s 23rd minute free kick from the edge of the box gave the Beninese side the lead at the Prampram Technical Centre but Abdullahi Abiodun Muhammed levelled score for Nigeria, with an assist from Divine Oliseh, the former shooting home from close range.
Ezekiel Anthony Kpangu made it two for Nigeria three minutes on resumption from the break, while Imrana Muhammad took the game beyond the Baby Cheetahs in the 87th minute, linking up with Kamaldeen Abduljelil and leveraging on a fast counter-attack to slice past Benin goalkeeper Abdoul Aziz Rahman.
Meanwhile, Abduljelil Mustapha put a perfect icing on the cake in the fourth minute of additional time, shooting from range, around the edge of the box to displace the Beninese goalkeeper once again, making it 4-1 in regulation time.
Nigeria’s Odinaka Emmanuel Okoro scooped the Most Valuable Player award, after putting up an exhilarating performance for the Flying Eagles to help the team get past the Cheetahs hurdle.
Coach Aliyu Zubair’s boys were relentless throughout the duration of the game and showed commitment, dominating in every department of the game from the start to the blast of the final whistle.
By this scoreline, Nigeria leads Group A with four-points, and will wait for the outcome of Ghana vs Benin Republic’s match on Wednesday to know her semi final opponent in the ongoing seven nations tournament in Ghana.
