Flying Eagles fail to make it past second round, lose to Germany

Flying Eagles fail to make it past second round, lose to GermanyLevin Oztunali’s first half goal was enough to take Germany through to the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand on Thursday at the expense of Nigeria. A match report on fifa.com indicated that Germany were deserved winners against the Group E runners-up.But while the Flying Eagles could not be faulted for effort, their inability to create meaningful scoring chances proved to be their undoing. Prior to the game, it was expected that Germany would attempt to build their attacks by retaining the ball, with Nigeria utilising the counter-attack.

This manifested itself during the opening 45 minutes. Yet, for all of the Europeans’ possession, the first real chance of the game came from a set piece. Marc Stendera’s corner kick from the right was looking for Stark, but Onyinye Ndidi’s attempted clearance spun narrowly wide of the near post.