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.
