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Tag: Golden Eaglets

  • Eaglets pummel Guatemala 5-1 at UEFA/CAF tourney

    Eaglets pummel Guatemala 5-1 at UEFA/CAF tourney

    The Golden Eaglets scored four goals within 25 minutes of play and one more in the second half to ensure a 5-1 victory over Guatemala on Tuesday.

    In the Match Day 2 fixture of the UEFA/CAF Under-17 Tournament holding in Turkey, the five-times world champions were overwhelming in this their second game.

    A 5th minute goal by Olakunle Olusegun unsettled Guatemala, who were still trying to gather themselves together.

    Abdullahi Fawaz rattled them further with his goal in the 10th minute, as the Eaglets continued their attacking forays into the vital area of Guatemala.

    Seven minutes later, left full-back David Oduko extended the lead, while left-footed attacking midfielder Akinwunmi Amoo made it 4-0 in the 24th minute.

    There was now no doubt that Nigeria were in dominant control of the game, even as Guatemala got a goal in the 30th minute.

    The second half witnessed Nigeria missing some goal-scoring opportunities.

    However, Ibraheem Jabaar was very clinical with his sublime goal in the 84th minute to make it 5-1 against the hapless Guatemalans.

    Speaking after the game, team captain Samson Tijani said his teammates only implemented the instructions of the coaching crew.

    He added that the instructions were in line with their coaching philosophy of how a team should play and the players were happy with the number of goals scored.

    “We are glad that we played well according to the formation the coaches wanted us to use and followed their instructions on the pitch.

    “It was not that easy against Guatemala, but we followed our game plan and it worked well with the team scoring five goals,’’ Tijani said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Eaglets will face Senegal on Thursday in their last game.

  • Nigeria to face Hungary, Ecuador, Australia at FIFA U-17 World Cup

    Nigeria to face Hungary, Ecuador, Australia at FIFA U-17 World Cup

    Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have been drawn in Group B of the 2019 FIFA Under-17 World Cup scheduled to hold in Brazil from Oct. 26 to Nov. 17.
    The Eaglets who face Hungary in their opening match on Oct. 26 also have Ecuador and Australia to contend with in the group stage.
    Former Super Eagles full-back Celestine Babayaro was one of the two FIFA Legends and tournament veterans present at the draw ceremony, with Brazilian Sonny Anderson the other one.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the draw took place on Thursday at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland.
    Hosts Brazil are in Group A with Canada, New Zealand and Angola, while Group C has Haiti, Korea Republic, France and Chile.
    Group D has Senegal, the U.S., Japan and the Netherlands, Group E has Spain, Argentina, Cameroon and Tajikistan, while Group F has Italy, Paraguay, Mexico and Solomon Islands.
    NAN reports that the tournament’s opening match will see Brazil taking on Canada in Brasilia on Oct. 26.

  • U-17 AFCON: Eaglets lose to Guinea in penalty shoot-out

    U-17 AFCON: Eaglets lose to Guinea in penalty shoot-out

    Nigeria’s national under-17 male football team on Wednesday in Dar es Salaam lost 9-10 after penalty kicks to their Guinean counterparts in a pulsating semi-final match at the Africa Under-17 Nations Cup.

    In the competition’s first semi-final match played at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, both sides drew goalless after 90 minutes of intense action.

    While the Guineans bagged five yellow cards as against one by their Nigerian opponents during the game, they still dominated proceedings with more shots at goal.

    They had 24 shots, as against 16 by Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets, with four on target and one by Nigeria on target.

    The Guineans who finished runners-up from the first round’s Group B were in control with more and better passes, and had more time in their opponents final third.

    But both sides failed to score any goal for the game to go on to penalty kicks directly.

    Both sides scored their first five kicks each for an advance into the sudden death shots.

    It continued as a ding-dong affair, with both sides scoring, until the Golden Eaglets’ Ogaga Oduko missed the fifth (and 10th) kick.

    Eaglets will now face the losers of the second semi-final game between Cameroon and Angola in Saturday’s third-place match.

    Both Cameroon and Angola, Group B winners and Group A runners-up respectively, met in the other semi-final later on Wednesday.

    Guinea will now go on to face the winners of the Cameroon/Angola fixture in the competition’s final match on Sunday.

  • U-17 AFCON: Golden Eaglets play draw against Uganda

    U-17 AFCON: Golden Eaglets play draw against Uganda

    Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets, two-times African champions, on Saturday finished as winners of Group A at the ongoing Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Tanzania.

    The Eaglets drew 1-1 with Uganda at the Chamazi Stadium in Dar es Salaam to finish with seven points after three group stage matches.

    As usual with them since the tournament began, the Eaglets created many chances but wasted them as they came, starting with Akinkunmi Amoo’s poor touch in the 17th minute.

    Three minutes later, Wisdom Ubani lashed a shot narrowly over the bar from a free-kick.

    At the other end, Uganda came close to taking the lead when Samson Kasozi headed the ball against the upright from a corner kick.

    Nigeria had another narrow escape in the 25th minute as the East Africans put their feet on the throttle.

    Four minutes later, Amoo wasted too much time when clear on goal.

    Just before half time, with the goal at his mercy, the striker headed the ball far away from goal.

    Uganda’s goalkeeper Jack Komakech saved from Fawaz Abdullahi and Ubani within two minutes of the restart.

    Also, in the 58th minute, Uganda’s Andrew Kawooya rocked goalkeeper Sunday Stephen’s crossbar with a fierce drive from a free-kick.

    In the 70th minute, Uganda drew the first blood as the Nigeria defenceline ball-watched from a corner kick.

    Davis Ssekajja’s pullout only got a slight touch from goalkeeper Stephen, and substitute John Alou had the simplest task of nodding into an empty net.

    Two minutes later, with the goalkeeper to beat, Ubani who was a two-goal hero against Tanzania on Sunday wasted another clear chance.

    But a minute later, Nigeria were level as Ibraheem Jabaar read a long pass from substitute Olakunle Olusegun quite well.

    He pushed it beyond onrushing goalkeeper Komakech with the Ugandan defence ball-watching.

    Two minutes later, a typical fierce Ubani shot was punched away by Komakech.

    With this result, the Golden Eaglets will in Wednesday’s semi-finals face the second-placed team in Group B.

    Their opponents will be known on Sunday when group leaders Cameroon confront Senegal and second-placed Guinea tackle Morocco.

    Meanwhile, Angola have joined Nigeria in the semi-finals from Group A, following their 4-2 defeat of Tanzania.

    They finished runners-up with six points, after beating Uganda and losing to Nigeria.

    The host nation ended up losing all three group phase matches, conceding 12 goals and scoring six.

  • BREAKING: Golden Eaglets qualify for World Cup

    BREAKING: Golden Eaglets qualify for World Cup

    Nigeria’s U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets have qualified for the World Cup holding later in the year in Brazil.

    The Manu Garba-tutored boys defeated Angola 1-0 in Tanzania at the ongoing Africa qualifiers.

    The only goal was scored in the first half through a penalty.

    The Golden Eaglets dominated the game but lost many goal-scoring opportunities in both halves.

    When their Angolan counterparts were reduced to 10 men following a red card to the captain, the Golden Eaglets couldn’t capitalize on the advantage.

    They went on to lose more open chances to increase the tally.

    At the end, it didn’t hurt as they held on to the slim lead.

    Nigeria qualified having defeated host Tanzania 5-4 in the opening game of the tournament.

  • U-17 AFCON: Eaglets beat hosts Tanzania in nine-goal thriller

    U-17 AFCON: Eaglets beat hosts Tanzania in nine-goal thriller

    Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets won their opening match at the 13th Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 5-4 against hosts Tanzania in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.

    It was a match which saw the hosts collapsing in the latter part of the match against the five-time world champions.

    The Eaglets missed several scoring opportunities in a match they had in their hands but almost threw away due to sluggish marking, carelessness at the rear and slack finishing.

    They could have been one goal up after 20 seconds of play but a poor shot by Olakunle Olusegun with the goal gaping was easily thwarted by goalkeeper Yahya Mwinyi.

    There were more wastages, by Wisdom Ubani and Ayobami Amoo, before Olatomi Olaniyan put Nigeria in front in the 21st minute.

    He booted into the net from a rebound after an initial effort was stopped by Mwinyi.

    Tanzania replied straight from the restart, when Edmund John stroked past a badly-positioned goalkeeper Suleiman Shaibu, who showed little confidence all afternoon.

    Eight minutes later, Nigeria regained their lead after Ubani latched onto a high pass, turned a defender before placing the ball to the far side of Mwinyi.

    It was 3-1 seven minutes later, after the impressive Amoo skilfully rounded Mwinyi from a pass following a free-kick that was initially blocked.

    The Eaglets were expected to start the second period from where they left off in the first, but they resorted to defending and duly collapsedin a manner unimaginable.

    They were soon behind after conceding three goals in seven minutes against a side charged by crowd support.

    The Nigerian side even encouraged them to launch onslaught after onslaught, through their act of sitting back.

    Kelvin John scored a beauty with a 25–yard strike which Shaibu had no answer to, in the 52nd minute.

    Two penalty kicks followed quickly, scored by Morice Abraham and Edmund John.

    In the 65th minute, Olusegun headed straight at Mwinyi as Nigeria attacked, but Ubani equalised with a spectacular shot from a free-kick in the 72nd minute.

    Six minutes later, Ibraheem Jabaar regained Nigeria’s lead with a well-placed shot from the edge of the box which Mwinyi’s flailing hands could not reach.

    Victory took the Eaglets top of Group A ahead of the other clash between Angola and Uganda.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Eaglets will on Wednesday take on Angola at the same venue while the Serengeti Boys will be up against Uganda.

    Victory on Wednesday will most likely take the Eaglets to the semi-finals, and a place at the FIFA U-17 World Cup finals holding in Brazil later this year.