Flying Eagles on Wednesday, 5 August, 2026 booked a place in the final of the WAFU B U-20 Championship with a 4-3 penalty shootout victory over hosts Côte d’Ivoire, in which goalkeeper Lawani Clinton was the hero, reports thegazellenews.com.
The hard fought semi-final encounter ended 2-2 after extra time.
Côte d’Ivoire dominated the opening encounte as they scored in the 18th minute.
However, Nigerian captain Habila Simeon restored parity in the 68th minute with a header.
It was the first goal conceded by the hosts in the competition.
Abubakar Aliyu gave Nigeria the lead for the first time in the first half of extra time.
Côte d’Ivoire, however, restored parity in added time to make it 2-2.
There were no goals thereafter, and the tie had to be decided by a penalty shootout.
Simeon missed Nigeria’s second spot-kick, but Lawani made two saves to help the Flying Eagles reach the final.
