Nigeria’s Flying Eagles were on Friday evening beaten 2-0 by Burkina Faso in the Gold medal match of the Men’s Football event of the 12th African Games (AG) in Rabat, Morocco.
The U20 side, hitherto unbeaten in the tournament lost to two first half strikes against their West African rivals at the Prince Moulay Hassan Stadium.
They thereby missed the chance to become the first Nigerian side in forty-six (46) years to win Gold in Men’s Football event at the African Games.
Tournament’s top scorer Cheikh Djibril Ouattara gave the Burkinabes the lead in the 24th minute – his fifth goal in the competition – before midfielder Ismailia Ouedraogo doubled the lead six minutes later.
Paul Aigbogun’s Flying Eagles created more scoring chances in the second half but could not get their acts right with the final touch, squandering as many opportunities as they got.
Nigeria’s men team thus failed to emulate the feat of their women counterparts who won the Women’s Football event on Thursday.
Nigeria remain second on the overall medals table going into the final day of activities at the 12th African Games in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.