Solomon Agbalaka: Nigeria star eyes U20 World Cup qualification after MOTM display

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Nigeria U-20 defender, Solomon Agbalaka has revealed that the team’s target is to qualify for the semi-final which will seal a place at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.

The Broad City defender won back-to-back Man-of-the-Match award after helping the Flying Eagles to a 2-0 win over Mozambique, beginning with a brilliant heading winner against Egypt before he assisted Ibrahim Muhammad for Nigeria’s second goal against the Mozambicans in the final Group A encounter.

After picking up his individual accolade, Agbalaka said: “I’m happy to be named the Man of the Match for the second time running. It was a good performance and we needed to win and qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament.

“Our objective is to book a place in the semi-finals which will qualify us to the FIFA U-20 World Cup. We played well and scored good goals today so we will keep improving in the matches to come.”

Nigeria will face the winners of Group B in the quarter-finals at the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia.

The four semi-finalists at 2023 U-20 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) will qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup later this year. Nigeria has reached the final of the World Cup twice losing to Portugal and Argentina on both occasions.