Izuchukwu OkosiThe Flying Eagles of Nigeria on Monday evening failed to reach the final of the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt after losing 1-0 to the Young Scorpions of Gambia in the semifinals game at the Cairo International Stadium.
The Gambia’s prolific striker, Adama Bojang scored the only goal of the match in the 7th minute when he latched onto the ball after a sloppy pass from Nigeria’s Onuche Ogbolu in search of a teammate.
The seven-time African champions at the U-20 AFCON, Nigeria could not restore parity with few minutes left to play when Ahmed Abdullahi was fouled inside the penalty box.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) handed the Nigerian side the penalty after a review of the infringement but Abdullahi’s effort came off the post and the ball cleared.
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The Gambians finished the game with 10 men after a red card to the player who committed the foul on Abdullahi.
They are yet to concede a goal in the tournament and will play Senegal in the final who themselves are also yet to concede a goal in Egypt.
Nigeria will face Tunisia in the 3rd place playoff final. The North Africans were defeated 3-0 by Senegal in the first semifinal game on Monday.
Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal and The Gambia will represent Africa at the FIFA U-20 FIFA World Cup in Indonesia May 20 and June 11.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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