The Nigeria U17 Men’s team, the Golden Eaglets defeated the Black Starlets of Ghana 4-2 in their opening game of the WAFU Zone B U-17 AFCON Qualifiers on Saturday evening.
The Black Starlet of Ghana had the better start in the first ten minutes of the game but it was Golden Eaglets that got the breakthrough as Emmanuel Michael scored a brilliant left footed freekick just some metres shy of the 18-year-old to give Nigeria the lead in the 13th minute.
The goal gave Nigeria a boost and controlled the tempo of the game thereafter. Ghana came close to scoring an equalizer through Collins Agyemang and Andrews Appiah in the 21st minute and 30th minute respectively but failed to convert the chances.
However, Precious Williams doubled Eaglets’ lead in the 44th minute as he tapped in the ball parried into play by goalkeeper Ahmed Amadu to hand Nigeria a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead.
Eight minutes into the second half, Jibril Azeez netted the third goal for Nigeria in the encounter as he slotted the ball in after the Ghana goalkeeper failed to deal with the danger.
Substitute, Abdul Salifu dribbled his way through the Nigeria. defence and shot the ball into the low bottom corner to pull one back for Ghana in the 58th-minute.
The Golden Eaglets will respond with a Substitute of their own, Eke as he restored the Eaglets’ 3-goal lead in the 79th minute while Collins Agyemang made the scoreline respectable after scoring a penalty in the 88th minute.
At full time, Nigeria walked away with an impressive 4-2 victory at the Cape Coast Stadium in Ghana.
The two teams that makes the finals of the WAFU-B U-17 championship will automatically book their spots for the 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations billed for Algeria.
