South Africa’s Asive Langwe (left) evades Tolulope Aluko of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles during an invitational tournament at the Cape Town Stadium ... on Tuesday
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Nigeria have qualified for the 19th African Youth Championship to be hosted in Algeria next year following the Flying Eagles 3-1 victory over Amajita of South Africa in Ilorin, Kwara State on Sunday.
Nigeria, the defending champions and six-time winners of the tournament, picked the ticket to Algeria 4-2 on aggregate.
The Flying Eagles took the game from the first blast of the whistle but it was not until the 38th minute when Abduljaleel Ajagun, who was voted Most Valuable Player, turned smartly inside the six-yard box before firing past goalkeeper Lebo Ngubeni.
But almost immediately the Amajita drew level on the back of a quick counter attack as the Nigerians seem to still be celebrating their opening goal.
And again it was danger man Thabani Mthembu who scored for South Africa, just as he had done two weeks ago in Nelspruit.
Flying Eagles coach John Obuh commended the resilience of the South Africans.
“It was a mistake on our part as we over-celebrated our goal and we got punished for it,” lamented Obuh after the encounter.
“They are a very good team and they kept us on our toes from start to finish.
“Kudos to the entire team for putting in their best to ensure we will be in Algeria to now defend our crown.”
The game was then delicately balanced at 1-1 before Ajagun delivered the best goal of the day on 45 minutes when he blasted home into the roof of the net to the relief of the large crowd at the Kwara State Stadium.
Enugu Rangers striker Alhaji Gero further settled the nerves of the home crowd when he slipped home a stylish through ball by the outstanding Ajagun.
However, to the credit of the visiting South Africa they did not give up the fight as they opened up and took the game to their hosts.
Goalkeeper and skipper Samuel Okani was at his best as he kept out a goal-bound shot in the 74th minute and in stoppage time, Okani tipped another effort for a corner as Amajita continued to press for another goal.
Okorie was forced to clear into the side netting for a corner as South Africa kept on the pressure.
And when the Ghanaian referee blew the final whistle, players, officials and fans erupted into a wild celebration.
South Africa coach, Solly Luvhengo, commended the sporting skills of both his team and that of the Nigerian team. He, however, said the weather was not favourable to his team. He added that his players were doing well but caved in when the goals started coming in from Flying Eagles.
“I think for the first 20 minutes, the boys played very well. But when they started scoring goals, we became jittery.
“The impact of the weather was another factor. It was crazy. You cannot play football well with this weather,” Luvhengo said.
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Source : punchng[dot]com
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