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AYC 2011 Group B summary
Wednesday, 27 April 2011 18:57
Supersport - The CAF Orange African Youth Championship Tournament’s Group B games kicked off on 18 April, a day after the Group A openers with two fixtures
pitching Cameroon V Gambia and Nigeria V Ghana, at the Dobsonville Stadium in Johannesburg South Africa. The young Lions of Cameroon started their trip on a good note as they beat the young Scorpions of Gambia with a lone goal, to top the group while waiting for the results of the second game.
The Flying Eagles of Nigeria toppled Cameroon as leader on goal difference, when they beat current World and African champions, the Black Satellites of Ghana 2-1.
Nigeria and Cameroon had taken the lead in their group but the contest for the two qualifying places was still wide open although these two nations had a slim advantage over bottom seeded West African counterparts. The fight for leadership in this pool was to come in the second games on the April 21 between log leader Nigeria and their rival Cameroon.
At this point, Nigeria’s clash with Cameroon became a very decisive one as the winner would certainly take a six-point runaway lead irrespective of the outcome of the pool’s second fixture of the day between Gambia and Ghana. The young Lions refused to be tamed by the Flying Eagles who went down to give the top seed place to Cameroon in a memorable and action packed game play in Soweto, Johannesburg.
Cameroon beat the Nigeria on a single goal to become the second team to qualify for the Fifa World cup and the semis, behind group A’s Mali.
Cameroon’s victory over Nigeria meant that the Flying Eagles would have to fight hard against the young and physically fit Scorpions for the second group B ticket while Ghana clashes with already qualified Cameroon for the same fortune.
A Gambia win over Nigeria would have also placed them in contention to be decided on goal difference or head to head whichever applied, so as to separate the second victor from the ousted in this group.
Tension ran high on Sunday 21 as Cameroon met Ghana in Dobsonville , while Gambia clashed with Nigeria at the Milpark Stadium. The games were played in two separate venues at the same time in accordance with CAF Rules. Day three of the group B phase saw Nigeria seize the last ticket for the semis as they convincingly beat Gambia 2-0 to upset Ghana’s dream of defending their title.
The Black Satellites were held on a 1-1 draw by Cameroon and with four points, could only depart from the 17th edition of the CAF Orange AYC as third of group B.
Cameroon will be meeting the young Pharaohs of Egypt in the semis while Nigeria would clash with another West African rival, the Eaglets of Mali in another finals’ decider.
Losers of these two fixtures will play for a place for bronze.
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