National Under-17 team, the Golden Eaglets, on Sunday night handed a 4-2 defeat to their Egyptian counterparts in an international friendly match played at the Police Sports Stadium in Cairo.
In the match that kicked off 10:15pm local time (9:15pm Nigerian time), bean-pole striker, Victor Osimhen, got a first half brace while Samuel Chukwueze and Kingsley Michael scored in the second half.
Both teams settled down quickly after referee Abdel Mohammed signalled the start of the match, with the two captains Kelechi Nwakali (Nigeria) and Ahmed Hussein, much in the thick of the action.
But in the 13th minute, Osimhen put the Golden Eaglets in the lead when he jabbed into the net an inch-perfect cross from Samuel Chukwueze.
Osimhen followed it with another goal three minutes later when he headed straight into the net a pullout from Kingsley Michael.
Egypt pulled a goal back within a minute to spare of the first half when Walid Attya latched onto the end of a triangular pass orchestrated by Hamdy and Hosam Adel before dispatching the ball behind Eaglets’ goalkeeper, Akpan Udoh.
It was the Egyptians who were back in the hunt at the restart when Karim Yehia got a pass from Ahmed Hamdy before burying the ball behind Udoh in the 52nd minute.
Eaglets responded fast after the set back with some good positional play and Chukwueze added his name to the score sheet in the 58th minute when he drove a volley into the net off a pass from tireless Usman Abass.
Michael added another goal in the 70th minute after goalkeeper Mamoud Gad fumbled with a long range shot from Osimhen, who undoubtedly was the man of the match.
It was a game both teams used to test their fringe players towards the end but the match had already been won and lost as the Golden Eaglets got huge praise from the excited spectators.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eaglets that departed Cairo for Abuja aboard Egypt Air on Monday would return to Calabar, Cross River State on Tuesday to continue preparation ahead of their first leg, second round CAN Under-17 Championship fixture against Democratic Republic of Congo on July 20.
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