Africa U-17: Nigeria beat Tunisia to reach final

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have qualified for the final match of the 2013 Africa U-17 Championships after cruising to a 4-2 win over their Tunisian counterparts.

 The Eaglets were quick to scoring as Kelechi Iheanacho put Nigeria in the lead with just two minutes into the game. And they quickly doubled the lead ten minutes later when Musa Yahaya scored. Isaac Success scored the third goal for Nigeria.

 Tunisia pulled one back following poor defending from the Eaglets when Mohamed Larbi scored in the 25th minute. Soon afterwards, the North Africans reduced the margin when Hazem Hassen scored and the first half ended at 3-2.

Both sides were very competitive at resumption of play but it was the Nigerians that hit the net again through Yahaya in the 58th minute to secure a place in the final.

 “We are very happy to qualify for the final because our aim was to come here and win this trophy and make Nigerians happy,” Chidera Ezeh said at the post match conference.

“We are happy to be in the final and as usual, we will be waiting for instructions from our coaches to play against Ivory Coast in the final.”

Coach Manu Garba gave thanks to God for helping the team reach the final stage of the championship even as he promised the Ivorians a tougher game.

“The final match against Ivory Coast on Saturday is going to be a different ball game because we were unlucky when they beat us 1-0 in the group stage. We are going to play a better game because we now know them better.”

Tunisian coach Ben Soltane Abdelhay equally said that it was a difficult game for both teams but admitted that the Nigerians were stronger and deserved their place in the final.

He said, “It was a tough match for us because Nigeria were stronger physically. The temperature affected us too but that is not taking anything away from Nigeria.”

Saturday’s final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast will be the first at this level but it will be Nigeria’s fourth final appearance. The Eaglets conquered the continent twice in 2001 and 2007 but were unsuccessful in 1995.