By Amaechi Agbo
Nigeria’s U-17 boys came close to a stunning comeback from three goals down before losing 2-3 to their Ivory Coast counterparts in Monday night’s final of the WAFU U-17 Cup Tournament in the Togolese capital, Lome.
The sleeky Baby Elephants, who had won all their previous three games in the tournament (1-0 over Nigeria; 3-1 over Ghana and; 1-0 over Niger Republic), raced to a 1-0 first half lead and then added two more before the 70th minute, leaving five-time world champions Nigeria crestfallen and looking out of sorts at the Stade Kegue.
However, the Eaglets pulled themselves together and scored two quick goals late in the game to earn a respectable result, as both teams proudly picked tickets to the 2021 Africa U17 Cup of Nations holding in Morocco 13th -31st March.
Earlier in the evening, Burkina Faso’s Baby Etalons, who lost 0-1 to Nigeria in the semi-finals, grabbed the tournament’s bronze medals after an 11-10 penalty shoot-out win over Niger Republic following 1-1 draw in the classification match.
Nigeria reached the final after winning just a match. The lost 1-0 against the final opponents, drew 1-1 against Ghana and won Burkina Faso 1-0 in the semi-final.
The Golden Eaglets’ contingent is expected back in Nigeria on Tuesday.
