May 17, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Flying Eagles made a remarkable comeback to draw 3-3 against the Colombian Under-20 national team in an international friendly match played at the October 20 Stadium in Tristan Suarez.
Ladan Bosso’s youngsters had to toil hard to come back from a two-goal deficit. The match served as Nigeria’s last friendly before they face the Dominican Republic in their opening game of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.
It began on a sour note for Nigeria as they conceded an unfortunate own goal in the 20th minute before Colombia doubled their lead nine minutes later via a penalty. Despite the setback, the Flying Eagles responded brilliantly and reduced the deficit five minutes before half-time, through a goal from Jude Sunday.
Yaser Asprilla scored Colombia’s third to restore their two-goal cushion shortly after the restart, but Nigeria refused to back down. Mohammed Beji and Emmanuel Umeh scored in the 65th and 78th minutes respectively to complete an incredible comeback for the Nigerians.
The Flying Eagles will travel to Mendoza, where they will play their Group D matches at the World Cup. They will face the Dominican Republic on May 21, Italy on May 24, and Brazil on May 27, which is scheduled to be their final group game as they hope to become Africa’s second U-20 World Cup winners.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
