Nigeria once again confirmed its status as the giant of Africa in
football when its National U-15 boys secured the gold medal of the
football event with a 3-1 victory over Swaziland at the Africa Youth
games in Gaborone, Botswana on Friday.
The U-15 boys who needed
just a draw to secure what is widely referred to as the most prestigious
medal of the games, went all out against their Southern Africa opponent
and goals from Nasifi Yahaya, Ali Musa and Young Elisha ensured that
Nigeria topped the six team table with 10 points while Tanzania and Mali
picked up the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Nigeria did
not just win the gold medal, the boys were impressive all through as
they conceded just once and scored ten times in five matches.
The
team defeated host Botswana 2-0 in their first game, drew 0-0 with
Mali, beat South Africa 3-0, defeated Tanzania 2-0 and completed the
football event with a 3-1 win over Swaziland in the last game played at
the University of Botswana football pitch.
The coach of the team,
Danladi Nasidi attributed the success to the one month camping exercise
which they enjoyed before the tournament.
“I’m a happy man today and I must say the one month camping exercise we had in Abuja before the tournament really helped us.”
According
to the tournament format, all six teams that participated in the
football event engaged each other in a round-robin format, the best
placed team on the table went home with the gold medal while the second
and third placed teams won silver and bronze respectively.
Following
the late withdrawals from DR Congo and Gabon, there were six teams left
to participate in the football event of the African Youth Games,
Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Mali.
Source link : https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=12308
Author :
Publish date : 2014-05-30 07:00:00
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