By

Eniola Olatunji 

Nigeria in the wee hours of Friday morning Nigerian time, gave the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) a terrible heart break with an added time penalty goal that sent the country out of the 24th edition of the world U20 male football tournament ongoing in Chile with a final score line of 3-2.

Nigeria had met KSA only once at the age group tournament at Columbia 2011 on 7th August 2011in group D but this defeat at Talca, Chile is so painful that the Saudi Arabians stood looking at the skies asking why Allah abandoned them at that crucial moment.

Salihu Nasiru had opened the scoring sheet through a Suleiman connect in the 10th minute before Al-Yuhaybi got a good pass from Al-Shanqiti to equalize in the 21st minute.

Nigeria went for the break on 2-1 with a goal scored in the 38th minute when same Nasiru connected Onyejefu-Ochoche scored but hardly had both teams settled for the 2nd half that Bamawi gave a cross pass to Talai Haji to equalize again. 

Then Defende Bamawi clearly handled the ball in the box while attempting to ward off Agada in an aeriel battle and team Captain Daniel Bamayi whose error caused the lone goal loss to Norway brilliantly tucked it into goal for the match to go into heightened tension and aggression from the KSA boys that left the pitch with a probable high blood pressure and depression realizing they are out of the tournament despite an outstanding match.

Cover photo by Eniola Olatunji shows the Flying Eagles jubilating after the match.

Nigeria had made 23-11 shots at goal from the distance of which 4-3 were on target; the KSA boys were in control of the game with 52-48% ball possession stringing 369-346 passes and having 17-11 foul calls that brewed 3-1 yellow cards, the only yellow flashed to Nigeria was to Sani Suleiman in the 75th minute.

Thus Columbia that earlier played goalless with Norway tops group F with 4 points scoring a lone goal and having a clean slate; Norway is 2nd with 4 points scoring one goal and also with a clean slate; Nigeria is 3rd with 3 points scoring 3 goals and conceding 3 while KSA is yet to chalk a point scored 2 goals and conceded 4.

Nigeria needs to beat Columbia on Sunday at midnight Nigerian time to be absolutely sure of a ticket to the knockout stages that same time the curtain will be drawn on group F KSA tackling Norway to make a point.

In group E, high scoring USA left it late winning from the bench, to cage the Les Blues Junior 3-0 scoring in the 85th minute through Zavier Gozo who came in the 62nd minute; he connected Midfielder Brooklyn Raines to score the 2nd goal in the 88th minute before Ecuador born Marcos Zambrano who came in 75th minute topped it up with a lone strike in 90+2 minute. 

USA topped group E with 6 points scoring 12 goals and conceding one goal; South Africa had thrashed New Caledonia 5-0 to come 2nd with 3 points scoring 6 goals and conceding 2; France is 3rd with 3 points scoring 2 goals and conceding 4 while Goal basketful New Caledonia has no point scoring one goal and conceding a whopping 14 goals.

Last group matches start tomorrow at 9pm when Ukraine plays Paraguay; Panama also play against South Korea at the same time while at midnight Egypt tackles hosts Chile and New Zealand will face high tech japan. On Saturday at 9pm Mexico decides against tactical Morocco; Brazil plays another super power Spain to stay alive.

The two top leaders of the group automatically goes into the round of 16 matches of the Knockout stages while the 3rd placed team will compare with other 3rd place losers for the better team to join the Round of 16 stages.

Reigning Champions, Uruguay is missing in Chile as the country was knocked out at the qualifying stages of the South American confederation making the nation the 8th defending champions that failed to defend their status at the U20 world cup.

The 24th edition of the world U20 male football tournament runs from Sunday 2th September to 17th October with 24 nations from six football confederations contesting in four cities of Chile.