Guest nation Senegal beat Nigeria 2-0 Sunday night to lift the 2018 West Africa Union (Wafu) Zone B Under-20 Cup of Nations trophy.
Les Lionceaux invited from Wafu Zone A, showed they were a well-drilled side from the start of the tournament – beating Burkina Faso 2-0 in their first game, followed up with a 1-0 win over hosts Togo and completing Group A with a 100% record after defeating Mali 2-0.
Senegal then secured a 4-2 penalty shootout semifinals victory over Niger after playing out a 2-2 draw in regulation time.
In Sunday’s final at Stade Municipal, Lomé, Senegal powered their way to the title triumph with two second half goals against Nigeria’s Flying Eagles.
Sagna Amadou opens the scoring two minutes into the second half before Jeremy Babu sealed victory in the 69th minute – earning him the top scorer of the tournament award with four goals.
Meanwhile, Mali secured the bronze medal after beating Niger 2-1 in the third place play-off earlier in the afternoon.
The Wafu B U-20 Cup of Nations served as preparatory tournament for teams from sub regional zone set to participate in the 2019 Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Niger from February 2 to 17. West Africa dominates the 8-nation Under-20 Afcon with six teams – hosts Niger, Nigeria (both pitted in Group A) then Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.
Individual Awards:
Best Goalkeeper: Dialy N’diaye (Senegal)
Top scorer: Youssouph Badji (Senegal) – 4 goals
Player of the Tournament: Kanté Boubacar (Mali)
Team of the Tournament (18):
Best XI:
Dialy Ndiaye (Senegal) – Ibrahim Abubakar (Nigeria), Souleymane Cisse (Cisse), Souleymane Aw (Senegal) – Effiom Michael (Nigeria), Konte Boubacar (Mali), Issah Salou (Nigeria), Mamadou Diarra (Mali) – Youssouph Badji (Senegal), Niang Ousseynou (Senegal)
Substitutes (7):
Lawale Oremade (Nigeria), Drissa Diarra (Mali), Dion Lopy (Senegal), Thibault Klidje (Togo), Amadou Sabo (Niger), Udo Utin (Nigeria), Emmanuel Toku (Ghana)
