Golden Eaglets beat Egypt U17 3-2 in Kaduna Friendly
Nigeria U17 team defeated the Egyptian U17 side 3-2 in Wednesday’s international friendly played at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.
Goals from Samuel Chukwueze, Kelechi Nwakali and Sunday Alimi were all Emmanuel Amuneke’s wards needed to secure victory against the visitor who got two early goals from Mahmoud Mahbob and Walid Attid.
Egypt raced into the lead in the early minutes of the game after defender Anas Mohammed failed to clear a ball and allowed Mohammed Hamdy lay a pass to Mahbob who effortlessly guided the ball into the net.
Five minutes later, the Nigerians punished for poor defending when an unmarked Attid nodded into an empty net as goalkeeper Amos Benjamin was nowhere to be found near his line.
The Eaglets pulled a goal back in the 27th minute through Chukwueze who received a pass from Suleiman Abdullahi , breezed past his markers before unleashing a shot past goalkeeper Mahmoud Gad.
On resumption of the second half, the Nigerians mounted more pressure of the Egyptian defence and it soon paid off as new comer Osinachi was fouled in the penalty area with captain Nwakali scoring the resultant kick in the 68th minute.
Alimi grabbed the winner for the Eaglets with less than four minutes to full time to the delight of crowd who thronged into the stadium to watch the highly entertaining game.
The second leg of the friendly holds on Friday May 30, 2014 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.
The reigning world champions will, in July, take on the winner of a preliminary fixture between Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, as the race for the 2015 African U-17 Championship in Niger hots up.
