Nigeria's 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup campaign in Argentina continued to soar high as they beat tournament hosts and favorites 2-0 at the San Juan stadium late Wednesday night.
Coach Ladan Bosso made three changes to the
side that were beaten 2-0 by Brazil in the last group game with Benjamin
Fredrick, Tochukwu Nnadi and Ibrahim Muhammad back on the starting lineup.
Argentina had more of the possession in the
first half of the game but were unable
to put away two clear cut scoring chances.
First, the impressive defensive midfielder
Federico Redondo could not generate sufficient power to guide his header from
a, corner kick which Kingsley Aniagboso
saved in the 26th minute.
Alejo Veliz also missed target from close
range as he could not steer his header which was eventually dealt with by the
Nigerian defence towards the end of the first half.
In the 50th minute, Argentina's influential
midfield prodigy Valetin Carboni teed up left back Valetin Barco but Aniagboso
did well to save his low cross-shot with his feet for a corner.
The Flying Eagles launched a counter attack
just five minutes after the South Americans' earlier threat but it culminated
in a Jude Sunday's speculative long shot which was easily gathered by Federico
Gomes Gerth.
With close to an hour on the clock, Nigeria's
Nnadi let fly a powerful shot from long distance that came off the crossbar but
Solomon Agbalaka was flagged offside as he attempted to head the ball past a
beaten Gomes Gerth.
Ibrahim Muhammad grabbed the much sought
after goal in the 61st minite as he glided past two markers and slotted home
after a glorious pass by Umeh Emmanuel.
Argentina almost got a response immediately
but the ball was cleared which led to a counter but Umeh shot was agonizingly
wide.
Carboni's shot soon after that passage of
play was parried away for corner by Aniagboso.
The Argentines seemed the likely side to get
a goal in the second half but despite their many forays in attack it was
Nigeria that got a second goal with substitute Haliru Sarki heading home a.
superb pass from Victor Eletu in added time.
The referee Glenn Nyberg from Sweden signaled
the end of the game after 8 minutes of added time was extended to 11 minutes.
Argentina defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the final
of the same tournament in the Netherlands back in 2005, being the second time
Nigeria will emerge as runners up in the history of the U-20 World Cup after
Portugal claimed the prize at the expense of Tunde Disu's side in 1989.
In the quarterfinals, the Flying Eagles will
face the winner of the game between Ecuador and South Korea.
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