Goals from Gabriel Okechukwu and Anthony Okpotu proved decisive as the Super Eagles came from behind to beat Angola 2-1 and qualify for the semi-final of the ongoing African Nation Championship (CHAN) in Tanger, Morocco, in extra time.
Okpotu missed an incredible opportunity to give Nigeria the lead inside the first 30 seconds of the encounter as he completely mis-timed a pass with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The Angolans showed too much respect for the Eagles and found Ikechukwu Ezenwa a stumbling block the few times they had a sniff at goal.
With the first half ending goalless, both sides came out fighting in the second half and again, Okpotu had an opportunity to give Nigeria the lead but he dragged his shot wide.
And at the other end, the unexpected happened as Angola took the lead, as a panic clearance from Timothy came of Felix Vladimir and sailed past Ezenwa.
The Eagles were saved from going two behind as Ezenwa produced a brilliant save and with the game into the 90th minute – Okpotu raced onto a header from Kano Pillars Rabiu Ali and the Lobi star striker calmly finished to take the match into extra-time.
The first half of extra-time ended without any more goals from both sides but It was joy for the coach Salisu Yusuf tutored side as Gabriel Okechukwu skinned two players before placing the ball past the goalkeeper to give Nigeria a deserved 2-1 win.
Nigeria will continue their quest to win the competition for the first time when they face Sudan in Wednesday’s semi-final.
Leon Goretzka scored twice in the opening eight minutes as Germany beat Mexico 4-1 in Sochi to join Chile in the Confederations Cup final.
The Schalke midfielder swept home a Benjamin Henrichs pass from 20 yards and then slotted home from Timo Werner’s through ball.
Werner then tapped home Jonas Hector’s pass to increase Germany’s lead.
Marco Fabian scored a brilliant 35-yard strike for Mexico, before Amin Younes added a fourth for Germany.
Mexico had plenty of chances to come back into the game at 2-0 down but squandered them.
Fabian’s stunner came too late to threaten a comeback, although there was a chaotic ending with several chances at both ends.
While Germany go onto Sunday’s final in St Petersburg, Mexico face Portugal in a third-fourth play-off earlier that day.
Timo Werner scored Germany’s third to join Leon Goretzka on three goals for the tournament
Germany boss Joachim Low left most of his regular star players at home, including Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller.
That their weakened squad includes first-team players from Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Paris St-Germain, Arsenal and Liverpool speaks a lot about the strength in depth of German football.
Germany have two young teams in international finals this weekend. Five of the starting 11 in the Confederations Cup semi-final would have been eligible for Saturday’s European Under-21 Championship final against Spain – including Goretzka and Werner, who are now joint top scorers in the tournament with three apiece.
Despite their opponents having chances, Germany looked comfortable, with Goretzka impressive before he was replaced midway through the second half and Werner staking a claim to be Germany’s first-choice striker for next summer’s World Cup.
The RB Leipzig front man could have scored more, but attempted to poke one effort through Guillermo Ochoa’s legs, with the Mexican keeper blocking that effort, and put another shot wide from a wide angle.
Ajax’s Younes scored their late fourth, turning home a pass from fellow substitute Mere Can.
Twenty six shots. One goal. Mexico waste their chances
It took Mexico 89 minutes, but they finally beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen
With better finishing, Mexico could have revitalised a game that felt over within eight minutes. They had more than twice as many shots as Germany – 26-12 – and had more efforts on target too, eight to seven.
Fabian’s effort from a short free-kick was the best goal of the game.
At 2-0, Giovani dos Santos forced a save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Javier Hernandez shot over from six yards, while Hector Herrera and Raul Jimenez also tested the Barcelona keeper.
Jimenez went even closer when he hit the crossbar with a header in the 75th minute, although at 3-0 that would only have been a consolation.
After Younes made it 4-1 in injury time, Mexico still had time for more attempts with Hernandez clipping the post and Jimenez heading wide.
Mexico start their Gold Cup defence a week after their third-fourth play-off against Portugal.
However, only three members of the Confederations Cup squad are playing in the tournament for teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Defending champions,the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria cruised into the FIFA U-17 World Cup semi-finals after stunning Brazil with three goals in first half.
Victor Osimhen, with his eighth goal in five games, Kingsley Michael and Udochukwu Anumudu battered Brazil.
The Eaglets played the rest of the game out at a canter to reach the final four.
The coach Emmanuel Amuneke-led Eaglets side will now meet the winner of today’s quarter-final between Ecuador and Mexico in the semi finals on Thursday.
The sour point for the Nigerian team was the yellow card to enterprising forward Funsho Bamgboye in the second half, which effectively ruled him out of the semi final tie.
Bamgboye, who got a red card in the team’s second group game against Chile was already on a yellow card he got in the second round match against Australia.
The Samba Boys were brighter in the opening stages, either finding Akpan Udoh in fine form in the Nigerian net or hitting their opportunities off target, with Rogerio and Evander the worse culprits.
The South Americans were however made to regret their missed opportunities when the lethal Osimhen extended his lead at the top of the goalscoring charts.
John Lazarus crossed from the Nigerian right and the Nigerian No9 headed in, via a deflection off Eder Militao.
Barely a minute after, Nigeria doubled their lead through Kingsley Michael while Anumudu made it three after hitting a left-footed drive from distance which skipped off the turf, and past the Brazilian goalkeeper.
The second period saw few clear-cut opportunities, with Funsho Bamgboye and Evander going closest for either side but, in truth, it was a mere procession for the holders to take a step closer to retaining their title. They will head to Concepcion for Thursday’s semi-final.
The Nigeria men basketball team, D’Tigers made certain of their top spot by beating Cote D’Ivoire 60-51 in their last group game to set up a semi final clash against Egypt.
The Nigerian team won all its group games and is close to retaining the gold medal it won at the last edition of the African Games in Brazzaville in 2011. The players were cautious doing enough to avoid any upset from the Ivoreins.
The women are also battling hard to top their group after winning their first three games, the best game being their 70-69 point win over Mali, in their opening game.
Skipper of the D’Tigers, Olumide Oyedeji said that the team was at the Games to win the title, noting that all the players were ready to defeat any team in their quest to retain the gold.
“We are all here to win the title. Anything short of that might be a disappointment, but I am sure that we are capable of achieving that aim. It is a big task, however, we are ready to accomplish it,” he added.
Speaking in the vein, Coach Ahmed Sani said the team aim is to win he gold. He said the players must be good offensively and also defend well in their subsequent games, saying that the competition is getting tougher.
“It is getting tougher now and I have spoken to the players to improve their game by playing to instructions. They have all done well, but we need to play as a unit to be sure of winning gold.
