By Amaechi Agbo
Nigeria’s U17 boys, Golden Eaglets have lost out of this year’s WAFU-B U17 Championship taking place in Burkina Faso, following a 1-1 draw with Cote d’Ivoire in their last group phase encounter on Saturday.
Their 1-2 loss to Niger Republic on Wednesday had rendered Saturday’s clash with the Baby Elephants a ‘must-win,’ but the Eaglets conceded first when Alex Fousseni made good use of a counter attack to put his team ahead after 16 minutes.
The Eaglets launched onslaught after onslaught but failed to find the opponents’ net, until Abiodun John found the equalizer with only two minutes of regulation time left.
The result meant the Eaglets departed the WAFU-B U17 Championship at group stage.
In Rabat, the U17 girls, Flamingos lost 1-2 to Poland in their first match of the on-going FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals.
Both sides enjoyed spells of possession in the opening 30 minutes before Poland were awarded a penalty in the 33rd minute. Following a review by the Video Support system, the referee pointed to the spot after an incident involving the Nigerian defender and a Polish attacker. Wiktoria Skrzypczak converted to give Poland the lead.
The goal separated both teams at half-time, with Akeem Busari’s side needing a response after the break. Poland thought they had doubled their lead in the 63rd minute, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Natalia Skrok made it 2-0 two minutes later, capitalising on a poor clearance by the Nigerian defence.
Busari responded with double substitution in the 68th minute, introducing Oluebube Umejiaku and Awawu Bashiru for Harmony Chidi and Mary Dunstan. He would also go on to make extra two substitutions ten minutes later, with Kanyinsola Yusuf and Precious Oscar coming on as replacements for Queen Joseph and Adesuyi.
The changes paid off in the 79th minute when Yusuf pulled one back for Nigeria shortly after coming on, giving the Flamingos hope of salvaging a result. Nigeria appealed for a penalty in the 86th minute following an incident involving Kemi Adegbuyi, but the referee upheld her original decision after another review. The Flamingos pushed for an equaliser but Poland held on to claim all three points.
Nigeria will look to bounce back when they face Puerto Rico in their next Group B fixture on Tuesday, 20 October, before taking on Korea DPR on Friday, 23 October.
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