South Korea Eliminate Flying Eagles From FIFA U-20 World Cup

The Flying Eagles’ quest at the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup came to an end following a slim 1-0 defeat against South Korea on Sunday night.

The goal was scored in the first half of extra-time by Choi Seok-hyeon after a goalless draw in normal regulation time.

Nigeria started the encounter as the better side and dominated the proceedings but failed to break through the impregnable defence of the Koreans.

Two minutes into the game captain Daniel Bameyi found Ibrahim Muhammad in the Korean area with a nice cross but the ball was blocked and cleared into safety by the Asians.

In the eighth minute, Abel Ogwueche almost broke the deadlock when he headed a well-taken corner-kick from Tochukwu Nnadi straight into the hands of goalkeeper Kim Jun-hong.

South Korea eventually grew into the game in the second half and had their first shot which narrowly missed the target after an hour of action. 

With the proceedings still square, Bameyi came close to opening the scoring after winning the ball from Park Hyun-bin on the edge of the box in the 86th minute, but he dragged his shot just wide as the game headed into extra-time.

In the fourth minute of extra-time, South Korea took the lead with their first shot on target courtesy of Lee Young-jun’s corner-kick headed in by Choi Seok-hyeon.

Seeking to grab a much-deserved equaliser for Nigeria, Emmanuel Umeh had two chances late on but he misfired in front of goal as the Flying Eagles once again failed to move past the quarterfinal stage at the U-20 World Cup.