The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria on Sunday secured their first win at the ongoing WAFU B U17 tournament following a hard-fought 1-0 win over Niger Republic in Accra, www.aclsports.com reports.
Nigeria played out a tight goalless draw against Burkina Faso in their opening game on Thursday and came into this second group in search of all three points, and which they eventually secured in tough fashion.
Manu Garda kept faith with almost the same squad that started the first game and his wards were quite dominant in the opening exchanges. Their opponents, Niger Republic, sat back in numbers and waited for counterattacks in order to break into the defensive half of the Nigerians.
Despite enjoying a lion share of the ball possession, the Golden Eaglets struggled to connect properly in the final third with winger Rapha Adams causing a lot of problems for the Niger side.
However, few minutes after the half-hour mark. Adams handed Nigeria the lead. Garba’s boys defended well from that moment on and tried adding to their lead but it never happened.
Just moments after the interval, substitute Chibuike Okorie, who came on for Boluwatife Ekishola earlier in the first-half, was given his marching orders for a questionable foul in front of the box. From the resulting set piece, goalkeeper Chinedu Dominic made a big stop to keep Nigeria in the lead.
The Nigerian youngsters showed character and determination to see off the Niger side – who were quite wasteful in attack – to take their first three points of the competition.
For the second game running, skipper of the Nigerian side Simon cletus was voted the man of the match.
The Golden Eaglets will now face Togo in their final group game on Wednesday. In the other game played earlier today, Burkina Faso defeated the Togolese side 2-0 to stay top of Group B.
