U17-AFCON: Burkina Faso punishes Nigeria and secures its ticket to the semi-finals

Finally, we now know the lineup of the four teams in the semi-finals of the U17 African Cup of Nations. After Mali’s qualification earlier in the evening, Burkina Faso secured the precious ticket to the last four, following their victory over Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets (1-2), on Thursday at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers.

In the first half, Burkina Faso was dominated by a Nigeria team that started aggressively from the beginning of the match.

 Burkina Faso relied on their last line of defense, Isidore Traoré, who kept them afloat with some help at times: the goalkeeper was able to thank his crossbar for deflecting a long-range shot at the edge of the box (8th minute), and then his post which denied Charles Agada’s strike (16th minute).

Nevertheless, the Burkinabe goalkeeper was more composed on Ogbabido’s curling effort (34th minute) and a new attempt from Agada, who was off-center on the right (38th minute).

The Nigerians had missed their chance, and the young Stallions were going to take advantage of it. In his corridor, Appolinaire Bougma tricked Michael and Owoyemi and crossed with the outside of his foot; Aboubacar Camara took advantage of the panic in the Nigerian defense to beat Odoh with a pointed shot (0-1, 45th minute). A real blow to the head just before halftime.

The tardy awakening of the golden eaglets

Returning from the break with a psychological advantage, Brahima Traoré’s warriors quickly doubled their lead. On the left side, Souleymane Alio provoked Ogboji and forced him to concede the penalty. Aboubacar Camara won his duel against Odoh and doubled the lead (0-2, 57th minute).

The end of the match became more lively with the Golden Eaglets pressing harder in attack. With their backs against the wall, Nduka Ugbade’s men reacted and reduced the score in the following minutes.

Oluwasegun Daniel infiltrated on the left side and delivered a perfect pass to Abubakar Abdullahi. The latter only had to push the ball into the empty net (1-2, 67th minute).

The score remained unchanged until the final whistle. Burkina Faso thus secured the last qualifying ticket for the semi-finals and the U17 World Cup, and will face Amara Diouf’s Senegal in the last four, in a match that promises to be exciting.

Let’s recall that this qualification for the semi-finals open the U-17 World Cup’s door for Burkina Faso.

Sitou

Source: afrik-foot.com