Africa Beach Soccer Championship: Senegal beats Nigeria to World Cup ticket

The Nigeria Beach soccer team, the SuperSand Eagles, for the umpteenth time will be missing at the World Cup having suffered a painful 3-4 defeat in the hands of Senegal on Saturday in one of the semifinal ties of the ongoing Africa Beach Soccer Championship taking place in Seychelles.

The Nigeria team had before today enjoyed a perfect run, crushing all their opponents in the group phase.

The SuperSand Eagles had thrashed hosts, Seychelles, Egypt and then Ivory Coast but failed to secure the vital win in Saturday’s outing against the Senegalese who incidentally were also responsible for Nigeria not going for the last Beach Soccer World Cup held in Tahiti.

In the keenly contested semifinal duel, it was Senegal that scored the first goal before Nigeria drew level through Emeka Ogbonna.

Abu Azeez then turned the tables round as Nigeria shot into the lead but the Senegal team equalised having been awarded a spot kick.

Desperate to return to the world stage, the SuperSand Eagles again shot themselves into the lead. This time, it was veteran star Isiaka Olawale that did the magic.

However Nigeria’s hopes of making it to the World Cup billed for Portugal was thwarted when Senegal equalized late in the second period before stealing the winner in the extra time; thus qualifying at the expense of Nigeria.