Nigeria’s Flying Eagles were denied twice by the woodwork as they fell 0-2 to Brazil in their last Group D match of the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup in Argentina, Soccernet.ng reports.
Goals from Jean Pedroso and Arsenal’s Marquinhos condemned the Flying Eagles to their first defeat at the tournament.
How it happened
Nigeria stood toe-to-toe with Brazil in the opening stages and should have been deservedly ahead within the opening ten minutes.
The Flying Eagles broke forward with pace. Emmanuel Umeh danced past his marker into the box and sent a delicious cross to the back post, which Jude Sunday met with an audacious volley. His effort struck the bar and touched the line before bouncing out. And VAR had to check to confirm that the ball had not crossed the line.
Brazil responded quickly on the counter and found themselves three against one, but Marcos Leonardo’s final ball let him down.
Brazil slowly gained the upper hand, winning several corners and free kicks in dangerous areas. The Flying Eagles, however, showed good defensive resilience to repel their opponents’ attacks.
Nigeria had a sight of goal midway through the half as Sunday and Salem Fago combined well before the latter fired a shot from the edge of the box that did not trouble Brazil’s goalkeeper Mycael.
On the half-hour mark, the Brazilians missed their best chance when Leonardos somehow kicked over the crossbar from a fantastic Bird cross with goalkeeper Aniagboso beaten.
Nigeria missed a good chance from a well-placed freekick, and Brazil made them pay two minutes before halftime. From a corner kick, Jean Pedroso rose highest to head the South Americans in front.
The Brazilians were not done, and minutes after their first, they got their second. Arsenal forward Marquinhos got on the end of another swift Brazil counter-attack to fire under Aniagboso.
Aniagboso came to Flying Eagles’ rescue ten minutes into the second half, making a fantastic save to deny Brazil a third goal.
Substitute Haliru Sarki nearly reduced the deficit for Nigeria, but his well-struck shot from just outside the box was pushed to the crossbar by goalkeeper Mycael.
Nigeria’s hard work after the break, however, did not pay off as Ladan Bosso’s boys failed to score in a match for the first time at Argentina 2023.
What next?
With the defeat, the Flying Eagles stumbled from the top of Group D to third place, with Brazil finishing as the group leader. Italy also defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0 in the other match to steal into second place.
But Nigeria progressed to the Round of 16 as one of the third-best-placed teams, where they will face either hosts Argentina or the United States.
I hate it when people try to exaggerate stories, Nigeria lost because they did not play well.
Nigeria lacked confidence going forward, they lacked confidence defending and you saw the result.
The technical inputs of Nigeria coaches was -6 while the technical inputs of the Brazilian coach was +7 so how dod you want to win.
Brazil came with a game plan and they executed their game plans perfectly.
You don’t win by passing the ball around, you win by playing to your strengths and to tactics which we had -6
Another Arm- chair warrior. These guys did well but were outdone by ill-luck. Yes, having qualified for the next round, they weren’t as motivated to win as the Brazilians but all the same I hope they will take it all out on Argentina and wouldn’t be surprised at all if they pull through. Argentina hasn’t been tested in this competition. They were in the weakest group. The negativity of some of these arm-chair warriors is flat out wrong. These young guys need encouragement and positive thinking rather than trying to prove too knowledgeable about the game. Save your know it all syndrome .
flying eagles performance was not that good. but I’m happy the boys will move to the next stage of the competition. playing against Argentina or USA is not going to be an easy game. best of luck guys.
Nigeria played well is just that Brazil needed the victory More than us.just imagine those two shots that heat the cross bar entered….it would have been 2 2