U17 Africa Cup of Nations: Nigeria battle Burkina Faso for semi-final ticket

By Saheed Afolabi

Nigeria U17 team will trade tackle with Burkina Faso in the quarter final of the U17 Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday May 11.

The Golden Eaglets finished second in group B with six points from three matches to seal a last eight place in the tournament.

While Burkina Faso came from a goal down to send defending champions, Cameroon packing from the tournament with a 2-1 win in their last group game to also advance to the quarter final.

Burkina Faso began their quest for glory in the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Mali but they reclaimed their quarterfinal mandate with triumph over the Cameroonians.

The Eaglets started their campaign in the tournament with a win over Zambia before falling 1-0 to Morocco in the second game, putting their qualification hopes on a knife edge.

The Nigerians, however, decided their fate of qualifying to the last eight until their final game of the group as they defeated South Africa 3-2 despite coming from a goal down twice in the game.

Nduka Ugbade tutored side will square up against Burkina Faso on Thursday 11th of May as the last four of the U17 AFCON will qualify for the U17 FIFA World Cup scheduled to take place at the last quarter of the year.