Izuchukwu Okosi
Nigeria late Wednesday night defeated hosts and pre tournament favorites Argentina 2-0 at the San Juan stadium in one of the four round of 16 games of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament, reports Prime Business Africa.
Goals in the second half of the game scored by Ibrahim Muhammad and Haliru Sarki proved to be the difference as Nigeria, now face the winner of Thursday’s match between Ecuador and South Korea.
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Ladan Bosso, coach of the Flying Eagles of Nigeria made three changes to the lineup he put out against Brazil in last group match which they lost by the same result against Italy with the decision to take Benjamin Fredrick, Tochukwu Nnadi and Ibrahim Muhammad.
Argentina created more chances especially in the first half but Muhammad who was not in the lineup in the defeat against Brazil broke the deadlock when he latched onto a great pass from Umeh Emmanuel to steer the ball into the net.
Argentina’s key players continued the pressure and even resorted to being physical in a bid to ensure a reaction from the Nigerians but players of the African began well
Bosso’s faith in his team seem to have worked in tandem with the players’ resolve to reach the latter stages of the tournament.
Nigeria beat Dominican Republic and Italy 2-1 and 2-0 respectively before losing by 2-0 to Group D winners, Brazil.
Italy defeated England 2-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament.
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.
