Africa’s Beach Soccer superstar Abu Azeez on Wednesday scored four goals to take his tally for Nigeria past a century as he inspired Nigeria to a 7-6 win over hosts Egypt in the semifinal of the African Beach Soccer Championship in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Azeez had scored twice in Nigeria’s group stage win over Libya on Sunday and once against Tanzania on Monday to take his scoring tally to ninety-nine (99) goals, thereby setting them up for a mouth-watering contest against the all conquering hosts.
The Sand Eagles, however put aside their preparatory problems before the start of the tournament to beat their hosts and qualify for next year’s Beach Soccer World Cup to be hosted by Paraguay, becoming the first team to book their place in Paraguay.
Apart from Azeez’s four goals on the day, in-form Emeka Ogbonna contributed a brace to Nigeria’s success while Taiwo Adams scored the other. Nigeria will now await the winner of Thursday’s second semi-final game between defending champions Senegal and Morocco to determine who they will face in the final.
Centurion Abu Azeez took to Twitter to express his gratitude after the game.
“Thank you Nigerians for the support,double celebration for me,qualifying for the world cup next year in paraguay and reaching my 100 beachsoccer goals,such a great feat,thank you to my coaches and all my team mates,” he wrote on his verified Twitter handle @iamzeezaga
The 2018 African Beach Soccer tournament will reach a climax on Friday in Sharm El Sheikh.