Football
Nigeria
reached the semi finals of the WAFU U17 Cup Tournament ongoing in Lome, Togo on
Tuesday evening after Group B pacesetters Cote d’Ivoire hammered the Black
Starlets of Ghana 3-1 at the city’s Stade Municipal.
Five-time
world champions Nigeria, who lost by the odd goal to the Ivorians on the
opening day of the competition and were forced to a 1-1 draw by the Starlets at
the weekend, needed a favour from the Ivorians to progress to the knockout
stage. And the Ivorians obliged.
The
Baby Elephants raced into the lead after only nine minutes and consolidated at
2-0 as the match wore on. But the Starlets, themselves two-time champions of
the world, pegged back their neighbours to leave Nigeria’s chances on the wire.
The
Eaglets and their Ghanaian counterparts had both scored through penalty kicks
on Saturday. It was the time for the Ivorians to benefit, as they netted from
six yards with 20 minutes to go to make it a commanding 3-1 win.
Nigeria
will now take on Burkina Faso, another youth football powerhouse, in the semi
finals slated for Friday at Togo’s main stadium, Stade Kegue.
Hosts
Togo were thrown out of the tournament on Sunday after two of their players
failed the mandatory MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) tests conducted by the
tournament’s medical team.
With
Togo’s results in the tournament annulled, Burkina Faso soared to the top of
Group A, and will be battling the Eaglets at the Stade Kegue in the first semi
finals from 5pm Togo time (6pm Nigeria time) on Friday. Same night, Group B
winners Cote d’Ivoire will take on Niger Republic as from 8pm Togo time (9pm
Nigeria time).
The
winners of the semi finals will battle for the diadem on Wednesday next week at
the Stade Kegue, and also qualify for the CAF U17 Cup of Nations billed for
13th -31st March in Morocco.
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