Nigeria’s U20 national team today in Dar-es-Salaam defeated their Tanzanian counterparts 2-0 in a first leg second qualifying round match for the 2015 Africa Youth Championship.
2013 FIFA U17 World Cup winner Musa Yahaya helped secure a big advantage for the Flying Eagles by scoring the first just before the hour mark before turning provider for the second in the closing minutes of the match.
Coached by Manu Garba, who won the 2013 U17 World Cup for Nigeria, the Flying Eagles go into the return leg on the weekend of May 24 favourites to make the final qualifying round.
Also favourites to make the 2015 AYC final qualifying round is Ghana and Zambia, who both won 2-0 at Sierra Leone and Mozambique respectively. Mali also hold a big advantage after winning 3-0 at Burkina Faso.
Other results from the qualifiers over the weekend saw DR Congo draw 1-1 at Malawi, Cameroun win 1-0 at Burundi, South Africa win 2-0 at Ethiopia and Morocco win 2-0 at Togo.
The 2015 Africa Youth Championship will hold next year in Senegal, with the semi-finalists there qualifying for the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup that will be hosted by New Zealand.