Goals from Kparobo Arierhi and Precious Benjamin earned Nigeria a 2-1 victory against Egypt’s Young Pharaohs in a pre-AFCON U20 friendly at the Cairo International Stadium.
Kparobo Arierhi, who scored three goals as Nigeria successfully defended its WAFU B U20 Championship title in Lome in October (including a brace in the final that dashed Ghana’s hopes), scored Nigeria’s first in the 10th minute of the encounter after a good pass from Bidemi Amole.
However, the Young Pharaohs of Egypt pulled one back in the 65th minute through Ahmed Kaabaka.
A dominant Nigerian side shot into the lead again with seven minutes left on the clock..
Precious Benjamin made no mistake from the spot, following a foul on Divine Oliseh in the hosts’ eighteen-yard box.
Seven-time African champions Nigeria achieved the morale-boosting victory less than 48 hours after arriving in the Egyptian capital for the 17th Africa U20 Cup of Nations, which gets underway on Sunday.
Similarly, this is the second pre-AFCON U20 friendly that the Flying Eagles will be playing after sharing spoils in two games against Côte d’Ivoire.
Meanwhile, the Flying Eagles’ first match is against Tunisia on Thursday next week, before further games against Morocco and Kenya in Group B.
On their part, hosts Egypt, who head Group A, will take on South Africa on Sunday, before further games against Sierra Leone on 30th April, Zambia on 3rd May, and Tanzania on 9th May.
Flying Eagles Pre-AFCON U20 XI –
Ebenezer Harcourt
Maigari Adamu
Odinaka Okoro
Daniel Bameyi
Benjamin Chukwu
Bidemi Amole
Divine Oliseh
Kparobo Arierhi
Calendar Onyedikachi
Ibrahim Auwal
Clinton Jephta.