Nigeria beats Cote d’Ivoire 3-1, qualifies for Africa U-17 Nations Cup

Two free kick goals from man of the match, Emmanuel Michael, and a header by Abubakar Idris Abubakar, yesterday at the Cape Coast Stadium, Ghana, gave Nigeria’s U-17 national team a 3-1 victory over Cote d’Ivoire. It was the first semifinal of the WAFU B U-17 Championship, which offers the two finalists tickets to the 2023 Africa U-17 Nations Cup,

Cote d’Ivoire flattered to deceive their supporters in the early minutes of the game and even got the opening goal through a penalty kick scored by Yau Diomande.

But the Eaglets were undeterred.

Nigeria got the leveler through a spectacular free kick by Michael and 13 minutes later, it became 2-1 when he once again delivered with a dead ball on the edge of the box.

In the second half, the Ivoirians tried to come back into the game, but their fight was punctured by Abdullahi’s 60th minute header.

Frustrated and confused, the Ivoirians resorted to rough tactics, which saw them reduced to 10 men after Makhete Moustapha N’diaye fell foul of the law and was promptly sent off.

Emmanuel, who was named man of the match, came close to adding a fourth goal from a dead ball in the 77th minute, but he narrowly missed the target.

Nigeria has with the win qualified for the Algeria 2023 Africa U-17 Nations Cup and will meet the winner of the second semifinal between Ghana and Burkina Faso in Friday’s final game of the competition.