Another West African country, Senegal has defeated Nigeria’s Flying Eagles 2-1 in their round of 16 clash on Monday night, June 3 at the ongoing FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland.
The encounter at Lodz saw Senegal take the kick-off and in the 10th minute, Tijani came close to netting the opener after winning a header in the penalty box, but his effort was not good enough to get a goal.
After half hour of football, injured-Maxwell Effiom was replaced by Sor, with scores still 0-0. Four minutes later, Sor came close to open scores, but his effort was saved by the Senegalese.
However, on the 36th minute, Amadou Sagna netted the game’s opening goal to hand Senegal the lead.
On the dot of 45 minutes, Flying Eagles chance to level scores through Ikouwem’s free-kick was blocked, but against the run of play, Senegal doubled their lead through Ibrahima Niane to go into the break with a two-goal lead.
In the second half, the Flying Eagles improved on their first-half performance and on the 50th-minute, Nigeria reduced the deficit through Aniekeme Okon, who deflected Makanjuola’s free-kick to make the scores – Senegal 2 Nigeria 1.
Despite other scoring chances for the Flying Eagles late in the encounter, Senegal’s junior Teranga Lions held on to claim the contest with a 2-1 win at the blast of the final whistle.
The result sees Senegal progressing to the quarterfinal of the U20 World Cup while Nigeria would head back home.