Golden Eaglets book 2015 U-17 World Cup spot

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria stormed into the semi-finals of the CAF Under-17 championships in Niger Republic after finishing first as Group ‘A’ play was concluded on Saturday.
Nigeria beat Zambia 3-1 at the Stade Municipal to finish on seven points and grab the group’s top spot and a ticket to represent Africa at the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
Nigeria coach, Emmanuel Amunike, said after the match: “We thank God for this moment and for this occasion. The most important thing for us was to go to Chile and I am happy that we have achieved that objective.
“We played against a very good side which has very good players and our players had to be cautious to play a game we wanted and at the end of it we achieved what we came here for. We’re blessed to be one of the teams representing Africa in Chile and we will hope we continue to do well even when we get there.”
The Zambia coach, Chris Kaunda, on his part said: “ The boys made a lot of mistakes. But these are like other children. When a child is growing, they make mistakes and that is what happened with our boys today. It’s a learning process but we are happy that we have learned and achieved a lot of things and have taken out lots of positives for Zambian football. We are disappointed not to qualify to the semi-finals and the world cup in Chile but one of the many things we have achieved is to secure the future of Zambian football with these fine talents and that is good for the country.”
Hosts Niger handed Guinea a 2-1 defeat at the Stade Seyni Kountche but the four points collected in the first two group games were enough to see the Syli National juniors finish second. Zambia and Niger finished on three points each having won one and lost two fixtures respectively.
At the Kountche, the hosts ensured that they finished the tournament on a high with two first half goals; the first as early as the second minute when Issoufou Boubabcar grabbed the opener after a good run into the Guinea box. Ismael Lara restored the hosts’ advantage on 39minutes to the delight of the home crowd after Guinea goalkeeper Djibril Yattara failed to collect a loose ball inside the box. Abdoulaye Keita had put Guinea on levels terms after 27minutes.
The second half saw no goals at the Stade Kountche but across the city at the Municipal, Nigeria and Zambia battled in a match which saw four goals; Nigeria skipper Kelechi Nwakali with a goal either side of a Victor Osimeh’s brace.
Zambia skipper Patson Daka grabbed Chipolopolo juniors’ consolation but the tournament debutants did not turn into goals all their second half chances to threaten Nigeria’s lead.
The bonus of the semi-finals placement at the CAF junior championship is a place at the FIFA U17 world cup finals set for Chile in October this year.