Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets lost the chance to progress to the quarterfinals with a game to spare after they failed to fly past their counterparts from Morocco in the second group match of the ongoing U17 Cup of Nations in Algeria.
The Coach Nduka Ugbade-led side were utterly wasteful as they labored in vain to break a resolute Moroccan defence after the North Africans secured a 1-0 lead in the second minute of the encounter.
An own goal by Tochukwu Ogboji as early as the 2nd minute was all the Moroccans, who downed South Africa’s Amajimbo 2-0 on the opening day, needed to make it within a step of booking a spot at this year’s FIFA U17 World Cup.
As happened in their opening match against Zambia, the Eaglets created chance after chance but pathetically lacked precision in front of goal. the
Abubakar Abdullahi should have done better than ballooning ball skywards after Emmanuel Michael put him through in the 21st minute, and captain Precious Williams also failed to make hay as the North Africans mounted an impregnable rearguard.
Defender Yahaya Lawali, who was again picked as Man-of-the-Match despite Nigeria’s loss, shot toward the sky with a through ball in the 69th minute. Substitutes Light Eke and Adewale Quadri provided the only real tests for the Moroccan goalkeeper in a frantic second period.
The Eaglets will now play South Africa on Saturday, and victory is imperative in ortossured of qualification to the last eight.