U20 AFCON, World Cup: Flying Eagles crash out

The Flying Eagles have crashed out of the U20 AFCON Qualifiers WAFU B in Benin – and by extension both next year’s U20 AFCON in Mauritania and the U20 World Cup in Indonesia – after Ghana failed to beat Cote d’Ivoire to give them a much-needed lifeline today.

Nigeria needed arch-rivals Ghana to beat the Ivorians by at least 2-0 so that they could sneak into the semifinals as Group B runners-up with a point.

However, it was not to be as Ghana fell 1-0 to the Ivorians, who thus finished as group winners, while the Black Satellites finished as runners-up.

Cote d’Ivoire will now take on Group A runners-up Niger, while Ghana tackle Burkina Faso in the other semifinal of the qualifying tournament.

The Flying Eagles have alleged a gang-up to stop them at the WAFU B qualifiers.

On Wednesday before their crucial Group B clash against Ghana, two players, Chisom Orji and Farayola Olawale, were reported to have turned in Coronavirus positive results and so had to be dropped.

However, both players as well as the rest of the squad all tested negative in another round of tests conducted two days later.