Nigeria’s under-17 national team, Golden Eaglets ae expected back home in Nigeria on Tuesday, 24 hours after they lost to their nemesis team, Cote d’Ivoire in the final of the West Afircan Football Union (WAFU) Zone-B competition in Lome, Togo, megasportsarena.com reports.
It was a second straight lose to the same team within a week, as the Ivorians had earlier beaten their rivals 1-0 in the Group B opening game, but Monday’s final was closer than their first clash, as the Eaglets came close to a stunning comeback from three goals down before losing 3-2 in the final.
The Baby Elephants, who won all their previous three games (1-0 over Nigeria; 3-1 over Ghana and; 1-0 over Niger Republic), raced to a 1-0 first half lead and added two more before the 70th minute, leaving five-time world champions Nigeria looking out of sorts at Stade Kegue.
However, the Eaglets pulled themselves together and scored two quick goals late in the game to earn a respectable result, as both teams proudly picked tickets to the 2021 Africa U17 Cup of Nations holding in Morocco 13th -31st March.
Earlier same evening, Burkina Faso, who lost 0-1 to Nigeria in the semi finals, grabbed the bronze medals after an 11-10 penalty shoot-out win over Niger Republic following 1-1 draw in the classification match.
