WAFU B U17 Championship Nigeria 0 Burkina Faso 0: Woodwork denies Golden Eaglets victory 

The Golden Eaglets were held to barren draw by Burkina Faso 17 in their opening matchday of the WAFU Zone B U17 Championship, played at the University of Ghana Stadium on Thursday evening.

Coach Manu Garba opted for a 4-3-3 formation, with Dominic Chinedu named in goal while Sylvester Chika, Daniel Mende Waris Yunus and Boluwatife Ekishola lined up as the defenders.

The skipper of the side, Simon Cletus was joined by Destiny Samuel and Abdulmuiz Oladimeji in the midfield.

Rapha Adam led the attack and was flanked by Imrana Muhammad and Ibrahim Abdulganiyu.

It was cagey affair in the first half as both the Eaglets and their young Stallions counterparts were unable to create clear scoring opportunities.

The Golden Eaglets only clear opportunity of the half was in the 24th minute when a defence splitting pass from Cletus found Oladimeji but the latter missed the target.

Not long after the start of the second half, the defending champions conceded a free kick at the edge of the penalty area but Burkina Faso couldn't convert.

In the 58th minute, Nigeria worked their way into a dangerous area but Muhammad couldn't get his shot on target.

The clearest opportunity in the second half fell to Cletus in the 65th minute, who found himself in a 1v1 situation with the goalkeeper,but he dragged his shot wide.

There was a moment of scare for the Eaglets in the 71st minute when a Burkina Faso player found himself in a good shooting position, but Ekisola put his body on the line to block the shot.

A minute before stoppage time, Manu Garba's side came close to scoring but got denied by the woodwork.

Nigeria will next face Niger on Sunday, which will be their second match in the competition 

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

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