The Flying Eagles are on the brink of crashing out of the U20 AFCON qualifiers in Benin by the group stage after they fell 1-0 to arch-rivals Ghana today in Port Novo.
Nigeria U20s will now hope Ghana do them a big favour by beating Cote d’Ivoire by at least 2-0 on Saturday for them to sneak into the semifinals of the qualifying tournament for the 2021 AFCON in Mauritania.
Ghana netted the match winner in the 83rd minute through a free kick taken by Precious Boah.
In a scrappy first half, Nigeria had two goals disallowed for offside.
The Flying Eagles played with a lot more urgency after the interval, but their attack was blunt with only former Golden Eaglets star Wisdom Ubani the bright spot.
At a time, the Flying Eagles recorded as many as nine corners, but still could not rattle the Ghana goalkeeper Ibrahim Danlad or his defence.
In stoppage time, a Ghanaian player was sent off for time wasting.
Flying Eagles likely Starting XI vs Ghana (4-3-3): Kola Oladipo – Moses Solomon, Charles Etim, Jimmy Abdul, Isaiah Ejeh – Adewale Oladoye, Azeez Oseni, Mohammed Abdallah (Liameed Quadri 85) – Wisdom Ubani, Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi (Peter Olawale 52), Nenrot Silas
