By Nelson Dafe on September 5, 2018

Despite the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria’s 2-3 loss to Burkina Faso in their first match at the ongoing 2018 African cup of Nations qualifiers for Under 17 players currently taking place in Niger, one player stood out in the Nigerian team, giving a performance suggestive of a very bright future.

Nigeria’s number 9-shirted right back Oluwatimilehin Adeniyi was a bright spark in the Eaglets team that faced Burkina Faso at the Stade Municipal in Niamey on Monday, September 3 as his intelligent positional play, heart to get stuck into battles and technical brilliance in making marauding runs across the byline of the Burkinabes was delightful throughout the encounter.

Adeniyi’s gusto play gave Nigeria hope after Burkina Faso had raced into a two-goal lead.

First he earned the Manu Garba-led Eaglets a lifeline penalty in the 42nd minute after some good ball-shielding which resulted in him being bundled over by a naive Burkinabe defender inside the 18.

Adeniy’s strong influence on the game was then exemplified again in the 47th minute of play when his speed and deadly cross just at the edge of the 6-yard box was frantically cleared off the line by a scrambling Burkina Faso defense with a Nigerian attacker waiting to pounce, as the Eaglets launched a wave of attacks to get back on level terms.

Adeniyi is also very comfortable as a center back where he is renowned for an uncommon calm and an ability to mix rugged tackles and spray accurate passes from the back.

It was in this playing position where the 16-year old sparkled for Sporting Dreams FC of Abuja (the grassroots club of which he is currently a registered player) in this year’s FCT's NFF Aiteo Federation Cup, helping the team to a surprise and impressive semi-final finish in the competition.

Meanwhile coach of the Golden Eaglets has offered explanations for Nigeria’s loss to Burkina Faso in the under 17 AFCON qualifiers opener.

According to All Nigeria Soccer online newspaper, Garba blamed the time-wasting antics of Burkina Faso players and the Eaglets profligacy in front of the Burkinabe goal fir the defeat.

“I believe if the Burkinabes have not been falling down to waste time, the story would have been different because we dominated possession, we created a lot of chances too but didn't take our chances,” said Manu Garba.

“This is just the first match, we still have a chance to comeback to the competition. A win against Ivory Coast, maybe, will take us to the semifinals,” Garba said.

Nigeria must beat Cote d’Ivoire in their last group game (the other team in the group Benin Republic were disqualified after many of their players failed MRI age tests) to stand a realistic chance of qualifying from group B.

•Photo shows Adeniyi

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 5, 2018

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