The Flying Eagles of Nigeria stunned the hosts of the 2023 Under-20 World Cup, Argentina by knocking them out of the competition in grand style.
Argentina are not just the host of the Under-20 World Cup, they were the favorites to win the tournament given their form. In the group stage, the team scored ten goals and conceded just once. They also beat all the three clubs in their group which made most pundits believe that the Flying Eagles would be walkovers for them.
Recall that Nigeria won two games including against Italy and lost their last group game against Brazil to finish third in Group D, on equal points with first-placed Brazil and second-placed Italy.
Interestingly, the Flying Eagles proved to Argentina that they are not pushovers as coach Ladan Bosso said ahead of the Under-20 World Cup round of 16.
The first half of the game ended 0-0. In the second half, the Flying Eagles of Nigeria took the lead in the 61st-minute courtesy of a goal from Ibrahim Mohammed.
After that, Argentina tried to push for an equalizer but all to no avail as the Flying Eagles of Nigeria ended the regular 90 minutes with a 1-0 lead.
Just when the Argentine side thought they had seen the worst, coach Bosso’s boys doubled their lead in the additional 1-minute courtesy of Haliru Sarki’s strike as Nigeria scaled through to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory.
