Julius OkorieAfter successfully picking a ticket to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile, Flying Eagles will next aim at winning the championship for the 8th time.
The seven-time winners have however been drawn against Amajita of South Africa in the semi-finals scheduled for Suez Canal Stadium on Thursday.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe two teams have met seven times since 2009 winning twice each and drawing in three games.
To get to this stage. the Flying Eagles bundled out defending Champions, Senegal at a nail biting encounter that ended 3-1 in favour of Nigeria via penalty shootout.
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South Africa on their part earned a lone goal win over Congo DR to advance. The second semi-final pairings that will see Morocco take on Egypt was a mixed fortune as well.
While Morocco ran away with a lone goal victory over Sierra Leone, it didn’t come easy for Egypt who had to survive a difficult battle against Ghana to advance on 5-4 penalties after regular and extra time.
The rivalry between Nigeria and South Africa is expected to continue as both teams lock horns for a place in the finals, which takes place on Sunday May 18.
The highest scoreline in encounters between the two teams was a 3-0 win by Flying Eagles in the 2012 U-20 AFCON.
The last encounters ended 0-1 and 0-0 respectively in 2019. 16-2-19 ended 0-1 in favour of South Africa in Nigeria and the return leg 5-2-19 ended 0-0 in South Africa.
Thursday’s clash will be tough for both sides. The good thing however is that all the teams have World Cup tickets in their kitty but emerging champion in Egypt is also worth adding and bragging right.
All eyes will be on the Flying Eagles who boast of seven titles and are eyeing the 8th title.
Safe to say after all said and done that the four semi-finalists Viz: Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco and Egypt are formidable enough to represent the continent at the world stage this year.
Meanwhile, the duo of Odinaka Okoro and Captain Daniel Bameyi have been named in the official CAF Best XI of the group stage, a glowing testament to their consistency, leadership, and quality on the pitch.
Their inclusion in the prestigious line-up comes as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) unveiled the best performers from the first round of the tournament, with selections made by the Technical Study Group (TSG).
The duo forms half of the tournament’s top-rated back four, anchoring Nigeria’s defensive stability and leading by example.
Bameyi, will hopefully continue his composure under pressure, aerial dominance, and vocal presence as they face South Africa come Thursday. Alongside him, Okoro has quietly emerged as one of the revelations of the competition.
His positional awareness, timely interceptions, and ability to build form has been unique and worthy of commendation.
The two defenders were key in helping Nigeria concede just one goal during the group phase, including a resolute 0-0 draw against tournament favourites, Morocco and a hard-fought 1-0 win over Tunisia.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
