Mali, Liberia, Benin move to quarter-final

Mali, Liberia and Benin Republic have booked their places in the quarter final of the WAFU Under 20 Cup going in Delta State.

Mali booked its place courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Niger at the Ughelli Stadium while Liberia's two points from two matches was also enough to see them sail into the quarter final.

Mali's Cheibane Traore scored for his team, after Niger Republic were reduced to10 men for most part of the game. It was a matter of time before Nigeriens, who were handicapped by the reduction, fell behind.

Though they fought back gallantly, they could not get a goal own and thus bade the competition good bye. Cape Verde's inability to attend the competition meant that Liberia who got two draws against Mali and Niger also moved on.

Mali's coach, Djibril Drame expressed happiness over his team's qualification and stated that the sqaud would put in more efforts to ensure it makes it to the final of the competition. "I must commend the team for today's victory that took us to the quarter final and with this we will put in more effort to move on in the competition.

Niger Republic coach blamed his team's loss on the dismissal of one of his players saying that the resulted would have been different if the player was not given the marching order. He also said that inexperience contributed to his team's ouster.