The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria kicked off their 2025 WAFU-B U17 campaign in Cote d’Ivoire with a 4-1 walloping of the Baby Cheetahs of Benin Republic at the Stade du Lycee Scientifique, Yamoussoukro, on Wednesday, www.aclsports.com reports.
Benin were desperate to bounce back from their narrow 1-0 defeat to Burkina Faso in their opening group game, but it was Nigeria who triumphed in the end after a hat-trick from George Agha and another goal from David Edeh. Jeremy Zannou scored a consolation goal for the Benin side.
It was a bright start for the young Nigerians as they raced to a three-goal lead. Winger Boluwatife Thompson won the Eaglets a penalty that was expertly dispatched by George Agha, before another foul won by Thompson was turned into a goal by David Edeh from a brilliant free kick in the sixth minute. In the 14th minute, Agha grabbed his brace after a fine build-up from the back.
The Benin side tried to get back into the contest, but they were second to everything, as Manu Garba’s boys continued to toy with them. Thompson and Salisu were doing the damage on the wings, with the former at the heart of everything from the Nigerians.
Just a minute after the half-hour mark, Thompson robbed the Benin goalkeeper of the ball around the corner kick area before setting up Edeh. Still, the skipper took another defender out of the way before rolling the ball to Agha for a simple finish for Nigeria’s fourth goal, Agha’s hat-trick, and the tournament’s first hat-trick.
Following that goal, Benin head coach Ibrahim Da Silva turned to his bench for solutions as he looked to arrest the slide. He changed goalkeeper Warris Soumanou and a couple of others. On the stroke of halftime, Raphael Fatouzoun embarked on a mazy run, and his cutback was slammed home by skipper Jeremy Zannou for Benin’s first goal.
With the big lead, Nigeria were more relaxed after the restart as their West African neighbours continued to chase the game. With qualification to the second round almost sealed, Manu Garba withdrew skipper David Edeh and replaced him with Ahmed Yusuf some minutes after the restart. Famous Umole was also withdrawn for Wisdom Innocent. Despite the push from the Baby Cheetahs in the second half, they failed to get back into the game as the Eaglets ran out deserved winners at the end of the game.
Nigeria, who have now booked their place in the semifinals, will face Burkina Faso in their final group game on Saturday to determine who will top the group.
The WAFU-B championship serves as qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar, with teams required to first book their spots at the CAF U-17 AFCON scheduled for next year.
