By Amaechi Agbo
For the fourth time in the history of the U20 Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria finished in third place as penalty shootout proved another sure route to glory on Sunday night, with hosts Egypt as victims at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo.
Triumph from the shootout against Cup holders Senegal in the quarter-finals in Ismailia earned seven-time champions Nigeria a ticket to this year’s FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Chile, and it came handy again after regulation time ended with a goal each way in the classification encounter.
Osama Hassan shot the Young Pharaohs in front after only 165 seconds of play, when a long ball from the back by Abdullah Boustenji found Mahmoud Hemida, who spun the ball onto the path of Omar Hassan to find the roof of the net, giving goalkeeper Ajia Yakub no chance.
The goal brought out the fighting spirit in the Nigerian team, and Clinton Jephta, Precious Benjamin, Sulyman Alabi and Ezekiel Kpangu combined to mount a series of onslaughts on the Egyptian rear-line.
The Flying Eagles drew parity with less than two minutes into the second half, when energetic wing-back Adamu Maigari snatched the ball from a sloppy Mohamed Saadoun and found substitute Divine Oliseh, who found the onrushing substitute Bidemi Amole to blast into the net.
Oliseh, Alabi, Ayuma and substitute Tahir Maigana had chances to earn Nigeria the winner, but goalkeeper Ahmed Waheb was in great form.
Nigeria dodged a bullet in added time of the second half, when a prolonged melee in the box saw the ball hit a defender once and the crossbar once, and then kissed the upright to go out of play.
However, goalkeeper Waheb had no answer to the Nigerian youngsters in the shootout, as Emmanuel Chukwu, Israel Ayuma, Kparobo Arierhi and Tahir Maigana, in that order, scored all their kicks while two of Egypt’s three kicks were saved by substitute goalkeeper Rufai Abubakar.
The Flying Eagles also won the bronze medals when Nigeria hosted the finals in 1995, and in 2009 in Rwanda and 2013 in Algeria.
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