U20AFCON: Flying Eagles beat hosts Egypt to third place

Nigeria U20s the Flying Eagles defeated hosts Egypt on penalties to win the third place match at the 2025 U20 Africa Cup of Nations as the tournament came to a close in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday, www.aclsports.com reports.

The Flying Eagles had to recover from an early setback after Egypt took the lead early in the game but the Nigerians replied early in the second period before sealing the win 4-1 in the ensuing penalty shootout after full time had ended 1-1.

Osama Hassan shot the Young Pharaohs in front after only 165 seconds of play, when a long ball from the back by Abdullah Boustenji found Mahmoud Hemida, who spun the ball onto the path of Omar Hassan to find the roof of the net, giving goalkeeper Ajia Yakub no chance.

The goal brought out the fighting spirit in the Nigerian team, and Clinton Jephta, Precious Benjamin, Sulyman Alabi and Ezekiel Kpangu
combined to mount a series of onslaughts on the Egyptian rear-line.

The Flying Eagles drew parity with less than two minutes into the second half, when energetic wing-back Adamu Maigari snatched the ball from a
sloppy Mohamed Saadoun and found substitute Divine Oliseh who found the onrushing substitute Bidemi Amole to blast into the net.

Oliseh, Alabi, Ayuma and substitute Tahir Maigana had chances to earn Nigeria the winner, but goalkeeper Ahmed Waheb was in great form.

Nigeria dodged a bullet in added time of the second half, when a prolonged melee in the box saw the ball hit a defender once and the
crossbar once, and then kissed the upright to go out of play.

However, goalkeeper Waheb had no answer to the Nigerian youngsters in the shootout, as Emmanuel Chukwu, Israel Ayuma, Kparobo Arierhi and
Tahir Maigana, in that order, scored all their kicks while two of Egypt’s three kicks were saved by substitute goalkeeper Rufai Abubakar.

In the final decided later in the day, South Africa defeated Morocco 1-0 to claim their first ever title at this level. Mamelodi Sundowns youngsters Gomolemo Kekana scored the game’s only goal for the Amajitas in the 70th minute to break the hearts of the explosive Moroccans.

The quartet of South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt will represent Africa at the 2025 World Youth Championships in Chile, later this year.