Kwara State boys and girls teams could not believe their eyes when they lost the final games of the Chief of Naval Staff Cup and the NOWA competitions at the old Parade ground in Abuja.
The highly enterprising kwara teams, found it difficult to swallow the bitter pills of defeat which they blamed on mother luck.
Kwara lost the U-17 girls final match to Cross River State 2-1 and also lost the U -14 boys final to Ekiti 5-4 after a pulsating encounter that ended 1-1 before the penalty shootouts.
The Ekiti team although hard working and committed didn’t put up the expected fight.The kwara team did the playing and the crowd truly got a full dose of entertainment but the pendulum of Victory swung against them.
The same fate befell the Kwara girls who some say became overconfident. They were actually a ball juggling and talented side ,but despite their display they were two goals down. It took a concerted effort from the bench before they could reduce the tally to 2-1 and eventually they lost.
In the third place match, Ekiti girls were however Unfortunate. They couldn’t emulate their male team Despite a very tough game against Imo girls the game ended goalless but Imo won 4-3 on penalties.
Also Read: Upsets, entertaining football at Chief Of Naval Cup/NOWA championships
The boys third place match between Kano and Kebbi was the final before the main final Kebbi left it too late wasting so many scoring chances only to allow Kano fight back and get the important goal, they won 1-0.
During the closing ceremony, President of the Youth Sports Federation Of Nigeria, YSFON, and Deputy Governor of Kano State Dr Nasiru Gawuna alongside the representative of the Chief of Naval Staff, could not hide their excitement as they applauded the wonderful display by the Youth footballers.
They thereafter appealed to the Nigerian football authorities to work with YSFON to harness the wonderful potentials discovered and give them a sense of direction so Nigeria can return to the promise land.
