Five –time champions Nigeria will guarantee a return to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup finals if they overcome Angola’s cadets squad in their second match at the Africa Under-17 Cup of Nations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Wednesday.
A reproachable slack approach saw the Golden Eaglets slump from 3-1 lead to conceding three goals and falling behind against host nation Tanzania in the tournament opener on Sunday, but they woke from slumber in good time to win with two spectacular goals and pocket three precious points in a 5-4 win.
Angola’s 1-0 win over Uganda hours later has ensured that the winner of the top-of-the-table duel between Nigeria and Angola on Wednesday would have one leg in the semi finals and automatically in the FIFA U17 World Cup slated for Brazil later this year.
All four semi finalists at the ongoing championship in Tanzania will represent Africa in Brazil.
Two –goal hero against Tanzania, Wisdom Ubani and Man-of-the-Match Akinkunmi Ayobami Amoo will be the cynosure of all eyes in the Eaglets’ attacking line on Wednesday. Yet, Ibraheem Jabaar, who slammed in the winning goal against the Serengeti Boys minutes after coming on as a substitute, is also capable of making things happen, just as Olakunle Olusegun, Fawaz Abdullahi and Olatomi Olaniyan.
Nigeria won the Africa U17 Cup of Nations in 2001 in Seychelles and in 2007 in Togo, and were world champions in 1985 (China), 1993 (Japan), 2007 (Korea Republic), 2013 (UAE) and 2015 (Chile).
Current Head Coach, Manu Garba was also at the head of the technical team that won in the United Arab Emirates six years ago.
The Eaglets failed to even qualify for the continental finals held in Gabon in 2017, losing to Niger Republic in the final qualifying round. Mali, Ghana, Guinea and Niger Republic flew Africa’s flag at the last edition of the FIFA U17 World Cup finals, in India.Mali edged Ghana in an all –African quarter final, only to lose 1-3 to Spain in the semi finals and falter 0-2 to Brazil in the match for third place.
The normally strong Malians, who also finished as tournament runners-up to Nigeria in Chile in 2015, are absent from the finals in Tanzania after losing the available WAFU A slots to Senegal and Guinea.
In Wednesday’s other match of Group A, hosts Tanzania will tackle Uganda in a match of two teams still hunting for their first points at the tournament.
WAFU Cup: Falcons to play Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso
African champions Nigeria will contend with Burkina Faso, Niger Republic and Mali in the group phase of this year’s WAFU B Women’s Tournament taking place in Abidjan, 8th – 18th May. They will play in Group B.
Host nation Cote d’Ivoire, alongside Togo, Senegal and Ghana will battle things out in Group A.
Next month’s tournament will serve as the last preparatory competition for the Super Falcons before they fly to their final camp in Austria ahead of the 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France.
Already, the Falcons have participated in tune –up tournaments in China, Cyprus and Spain, and pundits already rate the Class of 2019 as the side that have been afforded the best preparation for the World Cup finals by the nation’s football –governing body.
After the WAFU B tournament, the Falcons will spend two weeks at the Avita Resort in Bad Tatzmannsdorf in Austria putting finishing touches to their preparations, before arriving in France.
The nine –time African champions are up against Norway at the Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims on 8th June, before facing Korea Republic at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble on 12th June and host nation France at the Roazhon Park in Rennes on 17th June.
WAFU B WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT 2019
GROUP A: Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Senegal, Ghana
GROUP B: Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger Republic, Mali
