12th African Games: Falconets eye gold as Flying Eagles aim for final ticket

Falconets

Nigeria’s U-20 female team, Falconets, will be battling for the gold medal of the 12th African Games football tournament, after a commanding 3-0 defeat of their Algerian counterparts in Rabat on Monday.

Cynthia Aku put daylight between Nigeria and Algeria with two goals in the first 25 minutes, scoring the first in the 16th minute of play.

Zainab Olapade made sure of a miserable afternoon for the North Africans with a third on the dot of the referee’s final whistle.

The Falconets will now play the winner of the second semi final between host nation Morocco and Cameroon for the gold medal.

Nigeria’s U-20 boys, Flying Eagles will on Tuesday take on their Malian counterparts in the semi finals of the men’s tournament.

The Flying Eagles drew with Burkina Faso 1-1 and Morocco 2-2 and defeated South Africa 2-1 to reach the last four at this tournament.

To the seven-time African champions, the Malians are kind of familiar customers, after both teams also clashed in the semi finals of this year’s Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in Niger Republic.

The encounter ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time but the Malians triumphed after penalty shootout.