The Super Sand Eagles of Nigeria beat Egypt 7-6 in their semifinal fixture of the 2018 Africa Beach Cup of Nations played on Wednesday, December 12.
The Super Sand Eagles qualified to the knock out stage of the competition second in group B.
After a 2-0 loss on penalties to rivals Senegal in their opening group game, they bounced back with a 6-3 win over Libya.
The Super Sand Eagles then sealed their qualification from the group stage with a 2-0 win over Tanzania.
By progressing second in group B the Super Sand Eagles were handed a match up against hosts Egypt who finished first in group A.
Nigeria progress
The Super Sand Eagles dominated their Egyptian counterparts from start to finish to record a 7-6 win.
Nigeria were ahead 2-1 at the end of the first period, and were 4-3 ahead at the end of the second period.
Their held on to their lead and finish the third quarter 7-6 to be the first country to qualify for the 2019 Beach Soccer World Cup which will hold in Paraguay.
Goal scorers for the Super Sand Eagles were Veteran Abu Azeez who scored four of the goals and now has 103 for Nigeria.
Emeka Ogbonna added two while Taiwo Adams contributed one too.
The Super Sand Eagles will also face the winner of the other semifinal between Senegal and Morocco in the final scheduled for Friday, December 14.
Meanwhile, the Flying Eagles of Nigeria beat the Black Satellites of Ghana 4-2 in their final group game on Wednesday, December 12 to advance to the semifinal of the ongoing WAFU U-20 CUp.
The Flying Eagles lost their last encounter to the Niger Republic but improved on their performance against Ghana.
Nigeria vs Ghana
The Flying Eagles needed a victory to advance from to the group stage after their previous loss.
However, it was the Ghana who took the lead in the must-win encounter for the Flying Eagles, through Emmanuel Toku in the 28th minute.
Paul Aigbogun’s side, however, responded before the halftime break with an equaliser from Enyimba youngster Maxwell Michael.
At the restart of the second half, Ghana continued to press the Flying Eagles with Amankonah missing a clear chance at goal.
Aigbogun brought in highly rated Adesina Issa Gata which proved to be the defining change in the encounter.
After intense pressure, Abubakar Ibrahim gave the Flying Eagles the lead in the encounter when he converted a penalty kick in the 77th minute.
Wasiu Alalade who played a crucial role in the qualifiers scored the third for the Flying Eagles before Effiom again scored his second pf the game to give the Flying Eagles a three-goal cushion.
Toku scored his second of the game for the Ghanaians but was too late as the Flying Eagles held on for the win and Effiom was crowned the man of the match.
The Flying Eagles will place their semifinal fixture on Friday, December 14 and a possible final on Saturday, December 15.
The Flying Eagles are ready through to the 2019 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which will be hosted in the Niger Republic and are using the WAFU U-20 Cup as a preparatory step for the continental showpiece.
The 2019 Africa U20 Cup of Nation which is scheduled to hold from Saturday, February 2 till Sunday, February 17.
The eight teams that are through to the U-20 AFCON are Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger Republic, Tanzania, Burundi, and Angola.
