THE Golden Eaglets suffered a 2-1 defeat to Burkina Faso in the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers, Algeria tonight.
The result means the Nigerians have been knocked out of reckoning for the FIFA U-17 World Cup taking place later in the year.
The Burkinabes scored one goal in each half to gain revenge over the Golden Eaglets who won when both sides met in the West African qualifying tournament for the AFCON.
Aboubacar Camara scored both goals for Burkina Faso, who took their chances unlike their profligate opponents.
The forward gave Burkina Faso the lead one minute before half-time, taking advantage of a comedy of errors in the Nigeria defence.
A slip by a Golden Eaglets full-back was followed by goalkeeper Richard Odoh making a mess of what should have been a straightforward catch, and centre-back Tochukwu Ogboji completely missing his attempted clearance.
The Eaglets, who have won the African tournament two times and the World Cup five times, were not short of scoring opportunities, but they lacked composure and missed chance after chance.
Burkina Faso doubled their lead from the penalty spot in the 55th minute after Ogboji committed a foul in the box.
Odoh followed Camara’s penalty but it was well hit and the Nigeria goalkeeper could not stop it.
Abubakar Abdullahi pulled one back for the Eaglets midway into the second half, tapping in from point-blank range, but they could not find the equaliser despite several close calls.
Burkina Faso join Senegal, Morocco and Mali in the semi-finals, with all four earning tickets to represent Africa at the World Cup.
