WAFU B U17 Championship: Nigeria's Golden Eaglets defeat Black Starlets 3-2 to win bronze

Ghana's national U17 football team, the Black Starlets, faced a challenging encounter against rivals Nigeria in their WAFU Zone B Championship third place playoff, ultimately losing 3-2 at the University of Ghana Stadium on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. 

The victory guaranteed Nigeria the bronze medal, bragging right and a possible qualification for the U17 AFCON as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is yet to make a pronouncement as to how many teams from the sub-regional WAFU B qualifying tournament will make it to the continental showpiece.

Abdulmuiz Adeleke scored a brace while Imrana Muhammed netted once to snatch the all-important victory from Ghana and left the sizable crowd at the stadium heartbroken.

Imrana put Nigeria through just nine minutes into the game but the Ghanaians responded immediately scoring two goals through centre back Harve Gbafa from set pieces only for Nigeria to fight back and draw level through Adeleke who fired the ball from the far right corner straight into Ghana’s net.

The two sides continued pressing for more goals but their efforts did not yield the needed results till Ivorian referee Hughes Modeste Richard whistled to end the first half at 2-2.

From the break, the search for the winning goal continued and Ghana made attempt at goal but their effort landed in the arms of Nigeria goalkeeper Chinedu Dominic.

Ghana’s assistant coach, Nana Kweku Agyemang substituted Izdeen Mohammed for Prince Charles Amoah while Godfred Sarpong replaced Benjamin Hanson to augment the team.

But Nigeria would not succumb to any pressure and in the 56th minute, Adeleke was at the end of a big chance, but he shot directly at onrushing goalkeeper Michael Armah for his effort to roll out for a corner.

The Ghanaians later dominated the exchanges and kept pushing for a goal but in the 82nd minute, Joseph Narbi wasted a golden opportunity when he came close to scoring the third goal but he blasted way off target a rebound from Chinedu’s save.

Adeleke also shot against the crossbar earlier before he made sure with a strike in stoppage time after taking advantage of poor defending by the Ghanaians to make it 3-2 to propel Nigeria to win bronze. Adeleke netted four goals in the tournament.

Black Starlets Starting XI: Michael Armah, Bilal Adjevi, Harve Gbafa, Hamza Iddrisu, Benjamin Tsivanyo (Captain), Abdulai Nortey, Joseph Narbi, Ernest Ofori, Benjamin Hanson, Mark Kagawa Mensah, Prince Charles Amoah

Golden Eaglets Starting XI: Chinedu Dominic, Sylster Chika, Chibuike Okorie, Boluwatife Ekishola, Daniel Arierhi, Abdulwaris Yunus, Destiny Samuel, John Ogwuche, Simon Cletus (Captain) – Imrana Muhmmad, Abdulmuiz Adeleke, Edward Ochigbo