Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have failed to qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup after a shocking defeat to Burkina Faso in the U17 AFCON.
Nigeria’s quest for another U17 AFCON title has come to an end after a painful defeat to Burkina Faso in the quarterfinal.
🇧🇫 ✈️ #U17FWC
Burkina Faso qualify to the U17 FIFA World Cup by sealing the last 2023 #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 semi-final spot ✅ pic.twitter.com/dtpWXSGyWN
— #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 2023 🏆 (@CAF_Online) May 11, 2023
The Panthers proved too difficult to crack by the wasteful Golden Eaglets following an intense 2-1 win on Thursday night at the Nelson Mandela Stadium.
Aboubacar Camara was the hero for the Burknabes after he scored in either half while Abubakar Abdullahi scored a late consolation for Nigeria.
The Golden Eaglets came into the game against the Panthers hoping to seal another ticket to the FIFA U20 World Cup and reaching the semifinals of the U17 AFCON.
Nigeria has won the World Cup five times and qualified for 12, but have missed the chance for a 13th appearance following a painful and shocking defeat in Algiers.
The Eaglets dominated the quarterfinal clash against, as was expected given their performance so far in the competition.
However, they failed to make their dominance count despite creating the better chances but failed to take any of them.
Just before the break, Burkina Faso broke the deadlock against the run of play when Camara put them 1-0 up at half time.
In the second half, it was more of the same for the Nigerians as they continued to miss easy chances to draw level.
And just before the hour mark, they were made to rue those missed chances when the referee pointed to the spot after Tobechukwu Ogboji conceded a penalty.
Camara stepped on to the plate to confidently convert to double the lead as the Panthers looked comfortable and calm.
10 minutes after the second goal, Nigeria finally pulled one back through Abdullahi. But it turned out to be just a consolation goal as Burkina Faso held on for the win.
With the result, Nigeria’s journey in Algeria comes to an end, with the Eaglets missing out on the World Cup while Burkina Faso will represent Africa later this year.
