UEFA/CAF U-17 Tournament: Golden Eaglets Maul Guatemala 5-1

Overwhelming attacking football was on display when five-time world champions, Golden Eaglets of Nigeria scored four goals within 25 minutes of play and one more in the second half to ensure 5-1 victory over Guatemala on Matchday 2 of the UEFA/CAF U17 International Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday.

Olakunle Olusegun’s 5th minute goal unsettled Guatemala, and as they were still trying to gather themselves together, Abdullahi Fawaz rattled them again with his goal in the 10th minute. Eaglets continued their attacking forays into the vital area of Guatemala and it was another goal seven minutes later when David Oduko, a left-full-back registered his name on the score sheet.

Mercurial left-footed attacking midfielder, Akinwunmi Amoo made it goal number four for the Eaglets in the 24th minute.

There was no doubt that the record five-time champions of the world were in dominant control of the game. However, Guatemala got a goal in the 30th minute as the game went into the break with Nigeria leading 4-1.

The second half saw Nigeria missing some goal-scoring opportunities. Ibraheem Jabaar was very clinical with his sublime goal in the 84th minute to make it 5-1 against the hapless Guatemalans.

Golden Eaglets captain, Samson Tijani, said that the players implemented the instructions of the coaching crew in line with their training philosophy of how a team should play and the players were happy with the number of goals scored.

We are glad that we played well according to the formation that the coaches wanted us to play and followed their instructions on the pitch. It was not that easy against Guatemala, but we followed our game plan and it worked well with the team scoring five goals,” Tijani said.

The Golden Eaglets will play their last game of the UEFA/CAF U-17 International Tournament on Thursday against West African rivals, Senegal.