Nigeria Clinch FIFA U20 World Cup
Nigeria won 1-0 over Uganda in Ismailia on Thursday night to advance to the 23rd FIFA U20 World Cup finals. This was the second quarterfinal of the 17th Africa U20 Cup of Nations.
Chijioke Aniagboso, the Flying Eagles’ starting goalkeeper since he took over after Cairo’s opening-day loss to Senegal, led the team without Daniel Bameyi, who was suspended, but he was unfazed and provided another reassuring performance for the seven-time champions.
He had to make a quick save in the 10th minute to save a bullet header from a corner kick.
Both teams kept looking for opportunities, with Nigeria’s Ibrahim Muhammad and Haliru Sarki probing deep, but they were primarily defeated in the last quarter by bad passes and poor ball-holding.
On the penultimate day of Group A competition, Mozambique was eliminated after Ibrahim Muhammad, who scored one of the goals that did them in, pounced onto a long pass from the defense, controlled it effectively, and fired. In his astonishment, defender Ibrahim Juma assisted the ball into his own net for the game’s lone goal after his effort struck the upright.
Only four minutes after the restart, Muhammad should have made it two to buy Nigeria a cruise, but he put too much force behind his turn and shot.
Aniagboso made point-blank saves to maintain Nigeria’s advantage at the hour mark and seven minutes later. In the 80th minute, Samson Lawal twisted the ball away from goal from a 22-yard free-kick.
Nigeria’s victory secured them a spot in Monday’s semifinals and a trip to Indonesia. At the Cairo International Stadium on Friday, the Flying Eagles will play the victor of the match between Congo and Tunisia.
