Flying Eagles suffer demoralising start as Senegal avenge 2015 final

U-20 AFCON Flying Eagles suffer demoralising start as Senegal avenge 2015 final

Jidechi Chidiezie 20:39 - 19.02.2023

The defeat now sees Nigeria sit at the base of Group A, following a goalless draw in the opening fixture between hosts Egypt and Mozambique.

Senegal got their revenge after losing to Nigeria in the final of the 2015 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, by handing the Flying Eagles a demoralizing defeat in their opening fixture of the 2023 tournament.

It was an unwanted start for the Flying Eagles who went into the competition in Egypt as record champions, having won the U-20 AFCON seven times: the first in 1983, and the last time, being 2015.

With the outcome of their opening fixture on Sunday, Nigeria now sits at the base of Group A.

Faye give Senegal brilliant start

The fixture at the Cairo International Stadium was one that saw little or no chances created and, suffered a slow start in its early moments.

Unfortunately for Nigeria, things managed to start looking brighter for the Senegalese who created more chances for themselves to score.

They did eventually get an opportunistic goal in the 40th minute of the game, with a quick counterattack, ending with Souleymane Faye tapping in from close range into the roof of the Flying Eagles' net.

Flying Eagles finish match with 10 men

The second half was not much different from the first for the Flying Eagles who again, failed to create clear-cut chances for themselves.

Ladan Bosso's side eventually managed to get an attempt at Senegal's goal after 87 minutes, however, it wasn't enough to beat goalkeeper Landing Badji.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.ug/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Things went from bad to worse for the Flying Eagles in the 90th-plus-6th-minute as Ahmed Abdullahi, who had only come on for Adams Olamilekan, received his marching orders following a second bookable offence.

The defeat now sees Nigeria sit at the base of Group A, following a goalless draw in the opening fixture between hosts Egypt and Mozambique.

Related content