Nigeria amputees Football team lost in the final to host country of the Amputee Nations’ Cup Championship, Angola. The final took place at Banguela, Western Angola yesterday, October 11, 2019.
Two early goals from the host in the first half was enough to secure a win for Angola.
Before the loss against Angola, captain of the team, Sarafadeen Olalekan sent a message to Nigerians urging them to keep supporting the team and believes the team will be victorious.
“All we need once more is the prayer from Nigerians because their prayers have seen us through and am optimistic that with their prayers, God will favour us today because he started the journey and he most bring it to an end to favour us,” Sarafadeen said.
He also revealed that the technical crew were preparing an approach for the final game, as the country has never lost to the World Champions in regular time.
“Thus our technical team and the coaches are planning a strategy to approach the game in other to come victorious against Angola,” he said.
Nigeria had earlier played final and decider match against host Angola. Both team sitted atop the table with 11 points each after they drew 2-2 in the group stage, although Angola led with goal difference after the table matches.
Special Eagles as they are called before the final, defeated defending champion, Liberia by a lone goal through Kelvin Kingsley, edge out Cameroon 2-1, played goaless draw with Tanzania, defeated Sierra Leone 1-0, before drawing Angola 2-2 in the final group stage.
In the semifinals, goals from Kelvin Kingsley, Oyelekan Sarafadeen and extra time header from Grema Muhammed helped Nigeria defeat Tanzania 3-2.
Nigeria, for the first time progressed to the final of the competition in 13 years after three attempts in the semifinals.