Nigeria’s cadet national team, Golden Eaglets will be virtually begging Cote d’Ivoire to do them a favour by beating Ghana in the last Group B game of the ongoing West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Zone-B championship in Lome, Togo, after they settled for a 1-1 draw with the same opponent on Saturday.
With the Eaglets having lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in their first game of the regional competition on Wednesday, they will now need the Ivoriens to also beat the Ghanaians to stand any chance of making it to the semi-finals of the competition, which serves as qualifiers for this year’s African U-17 Cup of Nations.
However, megasportsarena.com can report, just as it was for the under-20 squad, Flying Eagles last month in Porto Novo, Benin Republic, the Eaglets are facing early elimination from the U17 AFCON qualifiers in Togo after they were held to a 1-1 draw by their fellow-Anglophone arch rivals, Ghana.
Coach Fatai Folorunsho Amoo’s side needed a win to guarantee them passage to the semi-finals, but they will now have to wait for the result between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday to see if they would remain in the contest.
Only a win for the Ivorians will give the Eaglets a chance to go through, while a draw will see Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire advance, as Amoo’s lads gave up their lead with only seven minutes left on the clock, after substitute Joseph Arumala put Nigeria in front with a penalty kick.
Arumala’s goal after 83 minutes from the penalty spot came after Abdullahi Ahmed was fouled inside the box, but the Eaglets could not hold on till the last whistle, as they conceded a penalty of their own, when goalkeeper Destiny Emuwahen upended a Ghanaian forward clear on goal.
While both sides were largely guilty of poor finishing and failing to convert their chances, the Nigerian lads would be ruing their bigger missing links, especially from top striker, Michael Papo, who was the worst culprit in front of goal for Amoo’s team.
