Nigeria, the host of this year’s IBSA blind football championship qualified for the Semifinals after topping Group A with 7 points and Ivory Coast finished second with 5 points. Both teams locked horns in yesterday’s final group stage game which ended 1-1.
INN learnt that the Ivorian Jersey No 11 scored a goal as early as 9th minute of the first half. The first half of the game ended with one goal in favour of team Ivory Coast.
Nigeria bounced back at the 29th minute of the second half with Nigerian Jersey No 4 scoring an equalizing goal which ended the game in 1-1 and ensure slots for both team in the semis.
In group B, Mali fired 9 past Niger to secure second place and a semi-final slot with 6 points. Seba F. Kone scored one of the nine goals by firing a six-metre penalty into the top left corner.
African champions Morocco finished Group B with nine maximum points after a convincing 3:0 victory over Egypt.
Team Morocco were handed 3:0 within first ten minutes of play. The game was dominated by Team Morocco as first half ended 3:0 in their favour.
In the second half, Team Egypt picked up and strategized as they tried to dominate possession in the game. Team Egypt’s efforts yielded result as penalty kick was award to them but they failed to convert it. Both team failed to record any goal in the second half. The game ended 3:0 in favour of formidable African Champion, Team Morocco.
Today will see Egypt play Cameroon for 5th place, followed by hosts Nigeria against Mali in the first semi-final and Morocco versus Ivory coast in the second semi-final.
The pursuit of the African title and qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Football 5-A-Side Competition is about to be very intense!