UAE 2013: Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets Become the Most Successful Team at the U-17 Level

Nigeria's Golden Eaglets successfully made
history by becoming the only team to have
won the Fifa Under-17 World Cup on four
different occasions by beating defending
champions Mexico 3-0 at the Abu Dhabi
stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
on Friday.
Nigeria opened
scoring
through an Erick Aguirre own goal, Kelechukwu
Iheanacho extended the lead before skipper Musa
Mohammed sealed a comfortable victory for the
Manu Garba-led team.
Nigeria maintained a 1-0 lead into the interval and
came back to put two more goals into the Mexican
net. The Golden Eaglets are now the only side to
have lifted the U-17 trophies on four occasions in
1985, 1993, 2007 and 2013.
Golden Eaglets Supersedes Brazil (Three Trophies)
Under-17 World Cup Trophies.
As expected, the final started as a cagey affair and
the Mexicans kept and controlled the ball on the
attack in the first two minutes but a fast counter
attack by Nigeria led to the opening goal, Kelechi
Iheanacho led the move and laid the ball in for
Taiwo Awoniyi who then fed it on to Yahaya, who
had a little help from Aguirre.
The Mexican midfielder mistakenly hit the ball into
his own net in an attempt to recover.
The Eaglets extended the lead in the 56th minute
as captain Muhammed unleashed a stunning which
was too hot for Mexico goalkeeper Raul Gudino.
The goalkeeper spilled a rebound for directly to the
feet of Iheanacho, who made no mistake
dispatching his sixth goal of the tournament.
Muhammed added a third with ten minutes left,
curling a sublime free-kick into the top corner.
Coach Garba has now won the tournament as an
assistant coach in 2007 and head coach in 2013.