AAG: U-23 team, B’Faso battle for final spot

Super Eagles
Nigeria’s U-23 team will play Burkina Faso in the semi-final of
the men’s football event at the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo,
after the West Africans emerged the lucky side, during a drawing
of lots with Sudan on Monday.
Hosts Congo and Senegal will tussle in the other semi-final
pairing.
The U-23 team defeated bitter rivals Ghana 2-0 in their opening
Group B match but held Senegal 1-1 in their last group game.
Ibrahima Keita had put the Senegalese in front in the 82nd
minute but Mustapha Abdullahi scored for the Nigerians seven
minutes later to secure the draw.
The result left the U-23 team as group leaders, which also
meant they avoided a clash with hosts Congo in the semi-final.
The Burkinabe and Sudan had scored two and conceded same
number of goals in their first two Group A outings before playing
a 0-0 draw in their final game on Sunday. Both sides were level
on four points apiece, two behind leaders Congo.
Officials had to resort to the drawing of lots, and it was the
Sudanese that were sadly sent packing, to the relief and wild
celebrations of the Burkinabe.
Former U-23 star, Abiodun Obafemi, has tipped the Nigerians to
overcome their fellow West African foes.
The Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games gold medallist rated Samson
Siasia’s team as the best in the tournament, saying the
Burkinabe would not pose much threat to the aspirations of the
U-23 team.
Obafemi said,“I think we have a better team than any other
country at the AAG. I rate the Nigerian team very highly.
“As a typical Nigerian team, we place too much pressure on
ourselves, but if we don’t on Tuesday and play to our full
potential, I don’t see the Burkinabe stopping us.”
Nigeria will be hoping to clinch a second AAG football gold,
having won it on home soil in 1973. The closest they came to
winning it was at the 2003 AAG in Abuja, but Cameroon put paid
to the hopes of the hosts, with a 2-0 win in the final.
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