Nigeria’s U-17 football team, the Eaglets, will not be participating in the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru, following their 2-1 defeat to Burkina Faso in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations in Algeria.

The loss was particularly painful for the Nigerian team as they had defeated Burkina Faso in the 2022 WAFU U-17 final.

During the match, the Nigerian team had several opportunities in the first half, with Abubakar Abdullahi, Charles Agada, and Light Eke all creating chances that were either off target or saved by the Burkina Faso goalkeeper. Despite some excellent defending by Jeremiah Olaleke, Burkina Faso scored the first goal of the match in the 45th minute through Aboubacar Camara, taking advantage of a missed clearance by Tochukwu Ogboji.

In the 57th minute, Camara scored his second goal of the match from the penalty spot after Ogboji committed a foul inside the box. Abdullahi scored a goal for Nigeria in the 67th minute, but the team was unable to find the equalizer, let alone the winning goal, to extend the match to extra time.

Overall, it was a frustrating loss for the Eaglets, who will now miss out on the chance to compete in the prestigious FIFA U-17 World Cup

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