U17AFCON: Poor defending, finishing; terrible goalkeeping nearly cost Golden Eaglets in 9-goal thriller win against Serengeti boys

Poor defending, bad finishing and terrible goalkeeping almost cost Golden Eaglets of Nigeria in their U17 AFCON 5-4 opener win against hosts
Serengeti boys of Tanzania on Sunday.

After several misses, the Golden Eaglets opened the scoring in the 21st minute through Olatomi Olaniyan only for Tanzania to draw level a minute later through Edmund John.

Again, Golden Eaglets went ahead through Wisdom Ubani in the 30th minute of the game, before Akinkunmi Amoo made it 3-1 seven minutes later with a superb individual goal.

However, Tanzania staged a remarkable fight back after the break.

Kevin John pulled a goal back for the home team in the 52nd minute and Tanzania made it 3-3 from the penalty spot after Nigeria goalkeeper Sulaiman Shuaibu somehow gets the ball into his own goal after it appeared it had come off the post.

Edmund John grabbed his brace also from the penalty spot after an hour.

Wisdom Ubani scored his second goal of the day with a thunderous free kick after 72 minutes to make it 4-4, before substitute Ibraheem Jaabar netted the match winner on 79 minutes with a rocket of a shot from outside the box.