Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have, on Friday, qualified for finals of the WAFU U-17 Cup Tournament going on in Lome, Togo.
The Eaglets beat Burkina Faso 1-0 to qualify for the final.
The youths also qualified for the U17 AFCON in Morocco later in the year.
FT| Burkina Faso U17 0-1 Nigeria U17. The Eaglets are through to the final of the Wafu B U17 tournament and have also qualified for the U17 Afcon in Morocco later in the year #SoarGoldenEaglets #Team9jaStrong pic.twitter.com/FGrwWRoJeN
— The NFF 🇳🇬 (@thenff) January 15, 2021
Nigeria reached the semi-finals of the WAFU U17 championship on Tuesday evening after Group B pacesetters Cote d’Ivoire hammered the Black Starlets of Ghana 3-1 at the city’s Stade Municipal.
Five-time world champions Nigeria had lost by the odd goal to the Ivorians on the opening day of the competition.
They were later were to a 1-1 draw by the Starlets at the weekend and needed a favour from the Ivorians to progress to the knockout stage. And the Ivorians obliged.
The Baby Elephants raced into the lead after only nine minutes and consolidated at 2-0 as the match wore on.
But the Starlets, themselves two-time champions of the world, pegged back their neighbours to leave Nigeria’s chances on the wire.
The Eaglets and their Ghanaian counterparts had both scored through penalty kicks on Saturday.
It was the time for the Ivorians to benefit, as they netted from six yards with 20 minutes to go to make it a commanding 3-1 win.
Nigeria now took on Burkina Faso, another youth football powerhouse, in the semi finals on Friday at Togo’s main stadium, Stade Kegue.
Hosts Togo were thrown out of the tournament on Sunday after two of their players failed the mandatory MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) tests conducted by the tournament’s medical team.
With Togo’s results in the tournament annulled, Burkina Faso soared to the top of Group A.
They battled the Eaglets at the Stade Kegue in the first semi finals on Friday where they lost 0-1.
Same night, Group B winners Cote d’Ivoire took on Niger Republic as from 8pm Togo time (9pm Nigeria time).
ElombahNews will bring the result soon.
The winners of the semi final encounter will battle Nigeria for the diadem on Wednesday next week at the Stade Kegue.
Both finalists automatically qualify for the CAF U17 Cup of Nations billed for 13th -31st March in Morocco.