Olympic Eagles Qualify For Next Round, Beat Tanzania

Nigeria’s Olympic team, the U-23 Eagles, on Saturday defeated their Tanzania counterpart, the Junior Taifa 2-0 (3-1 on aggregate), to progress to the next round of the continental qualification ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The Olympic Eagles had played 1-1 in the first leg at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dares Salaam, Tanzania, before sealing qualification in the reverse fixture played at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday.
Nigeria will now meet the winner between Ugandan and Guinea for a spot in the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations holding in Morocco. The tourney in Morocco would produce qualifiers for Paris 2024 Olympic Games football event.
The Tanzania’s Junior Taifa had battled the U-23 Eagles to a stalemate in the first half, as star boy, Oluwatimilehin Abiodun Ogunniyi and Edmund John and Dominic Ohaka battled to subdue the defence of the visitors to no avail.
On resumption for the second half, the Nigerian side kept mounting pressure on the defence of the Tanzanians until Ogunniyi broke the deadlock, scoring the opener by blasting a shot past the Tanzania goalkeeper, Aboutwaleeb Mshery, to put the host in the lead.
The second goal was scored by team captain, Success Makanjuola, through a penalty awarded against Goalkeeper Mshery, after he brought down Ogunniyi in his 18-yard box.