A multiple of woes, including injuries, a red card and two confirmed COVID-19 positive tests preceded Nigeria’s youth national team, Flying Eagles into their second match at the West African Football Union (WAFU) zone-B competition in Porto Novo, Benin Republic, and they promptly lost the game 1-0 to Ghana.
Megasportsarena.com gatheerd that the Nigerian side drew 1-1 with Cote d’Ivoire in their first game of the competition, which serves as qualifiers for next year’s Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in Mauritania, such that victory on Wednesday became imperative for Coach Isah Ladan Bosso’s squad.
However, with two players ruled out with coronavirus infection, another missing due to disciplinary issues and a third down with injury, it was always going to be an uphill task for Bosso and his wards against one of Nigeria’s biggest football rivals on the West Coast.
Boso’s tactical plan for the game took a heavy blow when two of his first choice wingers, Chisom Orji and Olawale Farayola tested positive for coronavirus and were ruled out of Wednesday’s game, as both players have since been quarantined.
Orji, a vibrant left winger, started the opening Group B clash against Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday, but his absence on Wednesday paved way for Plateau United of Jos youngster, Nenrot Silas to start against Ghana, while injury ruled out Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi, who was supposed to lead Bosso’s attack after hitting eight goals during preparations in Abuja.
Ikwuemesi had been considered ahead of Israel-based Peter Olawale, but lost his place to his direct rival for the opening game on Sunday against Cote d’Ivoire, with an official saying the lad simply lost his confidence in the squad, which was also without highly-rated central defender, Christopher Nwaeze, who was sent off on Sunday.
The coach eventually had to make three forced changes to his starting 11 against Ghana, with Charles Etim also picked ahead of stand-in captain, Mike Zaruma at right-back, while Jimmy Abdul replaced suspended Nwaeze on the heart of the back four.
The distortions, however, had telling effects, as Bosso’s side fell by a late lone goal, thereby leaving them the brink of failing to reach the 2021 U20 AFCON, as they can only hope Ghana do them a big favour by beating Cote d’Ivoire by at least 2-0 on Saturday for them to make it into the semi-finals of the qualifiers.
Ghana netted the match winner in the 83rd minute through a free kick taken by Precious Boah, in a game that Nigeria dominated and even had two goals disallowed for offside in the first half, The Flying Eagles played with a lot more urgency after the interval, but their attack was blunt with only former Golden Eaglets star Wisdom Ubani the bright spot.
At a time, the Flying Eagles recorded as many as nine corners, but still could not rattle The Black Satellites’ goalkeeper, Ibrahim Danlad, nor could they gain the upper hand and a crucial equalizer after a Ghanaian player was sent off for time wasting in the fading minutes of the game.
