Fireworks in Senegal: Flying Eagles battle Ghana for final ticket

The Nigeria and Ghana rivalry will today be renewed as the two sides battle in the semifinals of the 2015 Africa Youth Championships (AYC) in Senegal.

Matches between the two sides has always produced a sparkle –  final before final.

The rivalry between the two countries is spanning almost six decades and would come to fore again as Sellas Tetteh leads his Black Satellites against Garba Manu’s Flying Eagles in what is surely a match of fire power.

The Black Satellites started their tournament campaign on a bright note with a 2-0 win over South Africa and a 2-1 win over Zambia, but succumbed to a 1-0 defeat in their final Group B game against Mali. Sellas Tetteh’s boys looked second best to Mali, and struggled to make any meaningful efforts to get themselves level pegging against a physical Mali side.

Flying Eagles finished their group stages with two wins and a draw. The Flying Eagles had been very strong in the competition, and will look to revenge the 1999 AYC home defeat at the hands of the Black Satellites.

With both sides meeting in warm up games for the championship in Accra as part of preparation for the tournament, the two sides know each other very well.

Though both sides had already qualified for the World Cup in New Zealand in may 2015, they have their eyes on the gold medal ahead them and will do all they can to lift the trophy on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Glo Mobile, Nigeria urged the Flying Eagles to fly over their Ghanaian counterparts when they clash today in the first semi-final match of the 2015 Africa Youth Championship in Senegal.

The Manu Garba-coached team qualified for the semi-finals after amassing seven points and topping group A, ahead of group mate and host Senegal.

Globacom in a press statement in Lagos yesterday commended the team for not only qualifying for the semi-finals but also making Nigeria proud. The company therefore encouraged the team to sustain the momentum on today when they take on Ghana in Dakar.

“The Flying Eagles have been outstanding during the group stage, defeating Senegal and Congo and playing a draw with Cote d’Ivoire in the last match, we believe they will consolidate on their impressive performance to advance to the finals of the tournament,” the statement added.