Slippery forward Kparobo Arierhi netted a brace as champions Nigeria successfully defended their WAFU U20 title on Wednesday night after a 2-1 defeat of regional rivals Ghana in this year’s final in Lome.

 The Flying Eagles dominated large swatches of the encounter, but it turned out a game of two halves Nigeria were imperious in the first half and Ghana turned on the heat in the second.

 Harcourt came up with a clever palm-down when the Ghanaians broke through from the left with a cross and a header in the 14^th minute, and then punched the ball away after a point-blank shot as the Satellites waltzed their way into the box from the right in added time.

 In-between, Kparobo Arierhi had concluded the damage. First, in the 34^th minute, he received a pass on the edge of the box as the Flying Eagles broke forward on the right, and scored with the trusted poacher’s calm, left-footed finish into the bottom corner, with the goalkeeper clutching grass.

The second was more spectacular. Nigerian manfully snatched the ball half-way into the Satellites’ area, and a couple of passes left Kparobo, who plays his club football for Beyond Limits FC, and had scored Nigeria’s winner in the 2-1 win over Cote d’Ivoire in the group phase, face to face with the goalkeeper. Without any attempt at showboating, he unleashed a right-footed rocket right into the roof of the net.

On the hour, Nigeria had to spiritedly clear their lines as the Black Satellites, in a rare onslaught, picked the pockets of several defenders and got the ball past goalkeeper Harcourt.

Five minutes later, Nigeria again escaped through stout defending as a flurry of shots from inside and outside the box simply failed to get the ball beyond Harcourt.  

The pressure finally paid off for the Ghanaians in the 74^th minute, as they reduced the tally following a goalmouth melee.

However, the Flying Eagles held on to retain their trophy won two years ago in Niger Republic, and with Kparobo Arierhi collecting the Man-of-the-Match award.

Nigeria and Ghana will represent WAFU B at next year’s Africa U20 Cup of Nations, to be hosted by South Africa.

The Flying Eagles of Nigeria have beaten Ghana 2-1 to win the Under -20 WAFU Zone B  Cup. They therefore go to the Under -20 Africa Cup of Nations as champions. Ghana as runners-up also qualified.

Nigeria’s two goals came in the opening 15 minutes of the match while Ghana reduced the tally with less than 15 minutes to regulation time.

Following full compliance with the arbitration decisions of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Players Status Committee, the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has restored licenses of newly transferred and registered players of seven of the ten defaulting clubs.

In a letter conveying the development to the clubs, the NPFL Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi, commended the clubs for complying swiftly with the requirements, which will enable them play to their full strength.

The clubs are Enyimba, El-Kanemi Warriors, Plateau United, and Bayelsa United.

Others are Lobi Stars, Heartland, and Akwa United.

In the case of Akwa United, the licenses were restored on the directive of the NFF pending ongoing further investigations into their case.

With the development, two other clubs, Abia Warriors, Katsina United, and Kwara United, are still not off the hook as they are yet to comply with the ruling on their cases.