Flying Eagles beat Egypt to AFCON U20 bronze after shootout masterclass in Cairo

The Flying Eagles of Nigeria have secured their seventh U20 Africa Cup of Nations third-place triumph courtesy of a thrilling penalty shootout victory over host nation Egypt at the 30 June Air Defense Stadium in Cairo, Footynaija.com reports.

After a very watchable 90 minutes contest that saw the game end in a 1-1 draw following goals from the Young Pharaohs’ Omar Hassan and the Flying Eagles’ Bidemi Amole, Nigeria’s substitute goalkeeper Rufai Abubakar stole the show with two saves in the ensuing shootout to ensure a 3-1 win for his side.

What happened in the match?

The Young Pharaohs got off to a blistering start at the 30 June Air Defense Stadium, breaching the Flying Eagles’ reputed defensive wall to break the deadlock inside just three first half minutes.

A long ball from Egyptian captain Kabaka, caught Nigeria’s back four out with winger Mohamed Rafaat latching onto the pass before squaring it for Hassan who fired in from close range.

Nigeria dominated proceedings for the remainder of the first half following that early concession but their attacking struggles continued as they failed to break down the Egyptian defense before the half time whistle.

Flying Eagles boss Aliyu Zubairu seemed unimpressed by the attacking thrust from his forward players as evidenced by his 44th minute substitution of Yushau Armiyau and Ezekiel Kpangu to bring on Divine Oliseh and Bidemi Amole respectively.

The move seemed to raise eyebrows at first but it eventually proved to be a masterstroke as both substitutes combined to deliver the equalizer just three minutes into the second half after capitalizing on Kabaka’s error.

Nigeria continued to dominate the game but just failed to make their dominance count. They nearly paid for their profligacy in stoppage time when some suspect defending led to the Young Pharaohs hitting the frame of the goal twice and forcing a goal-line clearance.

Super-sub Rafiu Abubakar the hero

With the match clearly destined for a penalty shootout, Zubairu decided to swap goalkeepers, taking out Ajia Yakub in favour of Abubakar to hand the young shot-stopper his first appearance of the tournament.

If Abubakar was feeling the pressure of living up to the standards set by injured first choice goalkeeper Ebenezer Ifeanyi Harcourt in Nigeria’s penalty shootout victory against Senegal, he didn’t show it.

In fact, he went on to replicate Harcourt’s heroics by saving two of Egypt’s spot kicks as Emmanuel Chukwu, Israel Ayuma and Tahir Maigana all converted from six yards to clinch the bronze medal for Nigeria.