Nigeria’s Flying Eagles are through to the semifinals of the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations after beating Uganda 1-0 at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Ugandans lived up to their rating as a tough team to beat, but Ibrahim Juma’s own goal was all Nigeria needed to outclass the East Africans and advance to the last four of the competition.
Uganda started the encounter with confidence which is not unusual for a team that finished top of Group B without suffering a defeat.
But the Flying Eagles, despite missing the services of the influential Daniel Daga, were not short of effort and industry, and their enterprising display yielded fruits on the half-hour mark.
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Ibrahim Mohammed broke free on the left flank, but his firm shot came back of the post after it had beaten the Ugandan goalkeeper.
But the ball ricocheted off young defender Juma and trickled back into the net for what proved to be the only goal of the match.
With the win, Nigeria have now joined Senegal in the semifinals of the U-20 AFCON. The Senegalese defeated the Benin Republic by a similar scoreline earlier in the day.
The Flying Eagles have also qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be staged in Indonesia later in the year.
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