Nigeria’s Flying Eagles beat hosts Egypt 4-1 on penalties to claim a bronze medal at the under-20 Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday, Afrosport reports.
The Flying Eagles played out a 1-1 draw with the Young Pharaohs after regulation time at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo, and both sides marched on to penalties as the third-place playoff did not feature extra time.
FULL-TIME!
Nigeria edges it on spot-kicks!
#TotalEnergiesAFCONU20 | #NGAEGY pic.twitter.com/914LshuOC0
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) May 18, 2025
Both Nigeria and Egypt came into the third-place match following semi-final defeats against South Africa and Morocco, respectively. The North Africans, however, got off to the best of starts as forward Omar Osama gave them the lead just three minutes into the encounter after finishing off a cutback from Mahmoud Labib.
The Flying Eagles eventually settled into the game, having shaken off Egypt’s early dominance, and they came close to levelling proceedings, but the duo of Clinton Jephta and Precious Benjamin was denied by Egyptian goalkeeper Abdel Monem Tamer.
Aliyu Zubairu’s side, however, evened the score two minutes into the second half restart as Bidemi Amole found the back of the net after latching on to a through ball from Divine Oliseh.
With both sides pressing for a winner, Egypt almost found a breakthrough in added time, but Mohamed Haitham hit the post and crossbar with back-to-back strikes in a nail-biting end to the game.
The match headed straight to penalties with the game tied at one-all. The Nigerian players were spotless in the shootout as the quartet of Emmanuel Chukwu, Isaac Ayuma, Kparobo Arierhi, and Tahir Maigana all converted their efforts.
The Flying Eagles take home the bronze.
#TotalEnergiesAFCONU20 pic.twitter.com/A7A9HimLFA
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) May 18, 2025
Egypt, meanwhile, scored just one of their three spot-kicks, with Omar Khedr finding the back of the net, while the duo of Ahmed Kabaka and Mohamed Atef were both denied by goalkeeper Rufai Abubakar.
The victory helped Nigeria secure a fifth bronze medal in the tournament, while Egypt missed out on a podium finish for the sixth straight edition since their triumph in 2013.
