The Golden Eaglet of Nigeria edged a nine goal thriller to beat host Tanzania 5-4 in the opening game of the Africa U17 Cup of Nations, which is the qualifiers for the U17 World Youth Championship, Owngoalnigeria.com reports.
Nigeria raced into a 3-1 lead courtesy of goals from Olatomi Olaniyan, Wisdom Ubani and Akinkunmi Amoo in the 20th, 29th and 36 minutes respectively but it could have been more if not for their wastefulness in front of goal.
They were made to pay for the misses ten minutes after the restart Tanzania draw level and went ahead with two penalties sandwiched in between a goal from open play.
With scores at 4-3 in favour of the Tanzanians, Ubani fired in a well taken freekick in the 71st minute to draw Nigeria level before substitute Ibrahim Jabaar put Nigeria ahead with a potential goal of the tournament contender in the 76th minute.
