BREAKING NEWS, Sports
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THE Nigerian Golden Eaglets, defending champions, cruised into the FIFA U-17 World Cup semi-finals after stunning Brazil with three goals in first half.
In the match, Victor Osimhen scored his eighth goal in five games, Kingsley Michael and Udochukwu Anumudu scored the two other goals to send Brazil out of the tournament.
The Eaglets played the rest of the game out at a canter to reach the final four.
The coach Emmanuel Amuneke-led Eaglets side will now meet the winner of quarter-final between Ecuador and Mexico in the semi finals on Thursday.
The sour point for the Nigerian team was the yellow card to Funsho Bamgboye, an enterprising forward, in the second half, which effectively ruled him out of the semi final tie.
Bamgboye, who got a red card in the team’s second group game against Chile, was already on a yellow card which he got in the second round match against Australia.
The Samba Boys as Brazilian players are called were brighter in the opening stages, either finding Akpan Udoh in fine form in the Nigerian net or hitting their opportunities off target, with Rogerio and Evander the worse culprits.
The South Americans were however made to regret their missed opportunities when the lethal Osimhen extended his lead at the top of the goalscoring charts.
John Lazarus crossed from the Nigerian right and the Nigerian No9 headed in, via a deflection off Eder Militao.
Barely a minute after, Nigeria doubled its lead through Kingsley Michael while Anumudu made it three after hitting a left-footed drive from distance which skipped off the turf, and past the Brazilian goalkeeper.
The second period saw few clear-cut opportunities, with Funsho Bamgboye and Evander going closest for either side but, in truth, it was a mere procession for the holders to take a step closer to retaining their title. They will head to Concepcion for Thursday’s semi-final.
— Nov 2, 2015 @ 11:35 GMT
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