U20 AFCON: Flying Eagles battle South Africa for Poland ticket

U20 AFCON: Flying Eagles battle South Africa for Poland ticket

By Amaechi Agbo

Nigeria’s Under 20 national male team, the Flying Eagles will tomorrow square up against South Africa at the ongoing Africa Youth Championship holding in Niger Republic for a place in the 2019 FIFA Under 20 World Cup

The Flying Eagles of Nigeria began their quest for the 8th African crown with a 2-0 victory over Burundi on Saturday.

The 7 times champions showed their dominance by over running their Group A opponents at the Stade Général Seyni Kountché having a total of 9 shots on targets with 65% possession.

Although the team was wasteful in front of goals, but Yahaya Nazifi and Effiom Maxwell scored the needed goals that gave the team the top spot in their group

The Paul Aigbogun-led team will play South Africa tomorrow and the host nation, Niger Republic on Friday in other Group A games of the eight-nation tournament.

The tournament which started on Saturday will run till Sunday, February 11 across Niger cities of Maradi and Niamey.

The four semifinalists will automatically qualify for the Poland 2019 FIFA Under 20 World Cup

Nigeria failed to qualify for the last edition of the championship hosted in South Korea. It was the first time the team failed to qualify for the World Youth Championship since its debut in 1983 edition.

Nigeria has twice played in the final of the Under 20 World Cup in 1989 and 2005 but lost both matches.