Nigeria’s Flying Eagles were forced to a 2-2 draw by the Junior Etalons of Burkina Faso yesterday in Niamey but that was not enough to stop them from reaching the semi-finals at the ongoing WAFU B U-20 championship in Niger Republic.
The semifinal berth was made possible by the comfortable 2-0 win and three maximum points secured in their opening match against defending champions Ghana last Sunday.
In yesterday’s match played at the Stade General Seyni Kountché, the Flying Eagles took the lead through Ibrahim Muhammed’s bizarre goal in the 24th minute.
He had made a cross from the corner flag into the opponents’ danger area but somehow the ball eluded the goalkeeper and found its way into the net.
Burkina Faso’s Abdel Rachid then levelled scores from the spot after a sloppy defending by the Flying Eagles in the box.
But 10 minutes later, the Flying Eagles regained the lead also from the spot after Ibrahim Yahaya converted the penalty awarded to them but the Burkinabe’s fought back to deny them the victory that would have guaranteed top spot in Group B.
The Flying Eagles will still top the group, if Ghana would avoid defeat when they take on Burkina Faso in the final group match on Saturday.
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