Global youth football powers Nigeria and Ghana will on Tuesday battle it out for the bronze medals of the ongong WAFU B U17 Championship in Accra, Ghana.

Given their pedigree at this level, both nations should have been preparing to test strength and savvy for who deserved the trophy, in the final match of the competition. However, the Eaglets were downed by Cote d’Ivoire’s Baby Elephants while the Starlets were plucked by the Baby Etalons of Burkina Faso in the semi-finals.

With the West African Football Union still unable to provide clarity on the number of teams that will proceed to the 2025 Africa U17 Cup of Nations from WAFU B, General Secretary of Nigeria Football Federation, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi has charged the Eaglets to go all out and execute the third-place encounter like a final match.

“We are still awaiting clarity on the number of teams that will qualify to the U17 AFCON from this tournament. Some people have said only three teams; some said four teams. It is therefore important that our boys go out there and play their hearts out to finish in third place.

“The Black Starlets will not be an easy ride. They are the home side and they will bank on the support of the fans. But our boys have what it takes to achieve victory.”

The third-place match will kick off at 3pm Ghana time (4pm Nigeria time) at the University of Accra Stadium, ahead of the final match between Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, which commences at 6pm Ghana time (7pm Nigeria time).  

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets sailed majestically into the semi-finals of the ongoing WAFU B U17 Championship in Ghana with a 3-0 whiplash of Togo’s Baby Sparrow Hawks, that catapulted them to the top of group B and set the stage for a last-four confrontation with the Baby Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire. The match, which should have been played on Wednesday evening, was postponed to Thursday morning after the venue became water-logged following a heavy downpour.

Forward Abdulmuiz Adeleke came up big in the morning encounter with a brace, while Rapha Adams did his rising reputation no harm with his second of the tournament.

Adeleke fluffed an opportunity to put Nigeria ahead in the 6^th minute, but made no mistake five minutes later with an assist from Abdulmuiz Oladimeji, to emburden a Togolese side that had lost its previous two games in the championship.

Adams, scorer of the lone goal that earned the five-time world champions all the points against Niger Republic on Sunday, got close in the 20^th minute off a pass from Oladimeji, but his hit missed the target.

The forward would make no mistake 15 minutes later, nodding home a sublime pull-out by captain Simon Cletus.

Adeleke got his brace and Nigeria’s third in the 57^th minute, off another assist from captain Cletus.

The forward should have made it a hat-trick, but fluffed a penalty kick awarded the Eaglets in the 68^th minute.

Nigeria’s Edward Ochigbo was selected as Player of the Match.

Victory meant the Golden Eaglets finished as group B winners, following Burkina Faso’s 1-0 defeat of Niger Republic in the other match of the pool.

Nigeria will now clash with Cote d’Ivoire in the second semi-final on Saturday evening (7pm Nigeria time), after the first semi-final between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Coach Manu Garba has reiterated that Nigeria’s U17 boys will go for a win in Wednesday’s group B final encounter in Accra even though a draw will be good enough to see the five-world champions through to the semi finals.

“We are not here to be drawing matches. I am not happy that we drew our first match against Burkina Faso. We should have scored a number of goals especially towards the end but we cannot be crying over spilt milk.

“We got the three points against Niger Republic, and we have to keep at the winning mentality. We cannot afford to gamble; a win is what we are going for. Even though they lost their first two matches, we cannot afford to under-rate the Togolese. They got two goals against Niger Republic, even though they eventually lost, so they are not a team to be taken for granted.”

Cup holders Golden Eaglets will finish top of the pile if they win against the Togolese at the Accra Sports Stadium and fellow group leaders Burkina Faso fail to get the better of Niger Republic at the University of Accra Stadium in games that will be played simultaneously.

Victory for Nigeria, and draw or defeat for the Burkinabes, will mean the Eaglets avoid in-form Black Starlets of Ghana, who are expected to top group A, in the last-four confrontations.