Mali Clips Flying Eagles' Wing

AFCON U20: Mali dumps out Nigeria

Junior Eagles of Mali defeated Flying Eagles 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 duration time draw, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

The hope of Nigeria's Flying Eagles to capture AFCON U20 for the 8th time has been dashed as they lost in the Semi Final to Mali.

The Nigeria U20 team who has lifted the competition for 7 times was on Wednesday lost to their Malian counterpart 4-3 via penalty shoot out.

Mamadou Traore put Mali ahead in the 76th minutes after a scoreless first stanza but Pascal Onyekachi brought Nigeria on a level terms in the 86th minutes.

The went into extra time with Mali still controlling the proceeding and Nigeria also continued with their lacklustre display.

They headed into a penalty shoot-out when both teams failed to take advantage of increasing the goal in their favour.

Flying Eagles lost two penalties while their Malian counterparts lost one to play in the final of the competition for the first time in their history.

Despite not qualifying for the competition final, Nigeria has succeeded in picking one of the four available tickets allocated to Africa for FIFA U20 World Cup Poland.