Nigeria U17 team have secured their eight Fifa U17 World Cup final after surviving the scare of the Mexicans in what was a thrilling 4-2 encounter played at the Estadio Municipal Ester Roa, Concepcion on Friday morning.
It took two late goals from leading top scorer Victor Osimhen and Osinachi Ebere to hand the Golden Eaglets the ticket to battle for the trophy against Mali.
Nigeria fell behind in the seventh minute when Kevin Lara delivered a tongue-in-cheek cross into the middle. Aguirre tried to control with his chest, but Magana took charge and fired home.
Team Nigeria responded positively as Nwakali leveled up in the 35th minute, with a curly 25-yard free kick and with less than two minutes to halftime, they took the lead through Okonkwo’s world class goal. He cuts inside from the left onto his right foot and thumped a missile into the net.
As the second half resumed, Cortes stepped up to score a fantastic goal. He took the ball on the Mexican right just inside the Nigerian half and proceeded to dribble past five players, showing incredible close control before slotting calmly past Udoh.
before long, Ebere gave the Eaglets the lead. His right-footed effort was too strong for Romero, who got a hand to the strike but could not keep it out.
John Lazarus was taken down in the Mexican penalty area, giving Osimhen the chance to score his ninth goal of Chile 2015 and go level at the top of the all-time U-17 World Cup goalscoring charts. He slotted home with ease.
Nigeria is now positioned to play an all-African final with Mali.
