Nigeria  began their quest to qualify for the 2021 Africa U20 Cup of Nations by playing out a 1-1 draw with Ivory Coast at the Stade Charles de Gaulle, Porto-Novo on Sunday afternoon, allnigeriasoccer.com reports.

With John Amah unavailable for selection due to injury, manager Ladan Bosso opted for Kolawale Oladipo in goal with Mike Zaruma, Moses Solomon, Isaiah Ejeh and Christopher Nwaeze starting at the back.

Adewale Oladoye, Azeez Oseni and Muhammad Abdallah started in midfield while Chisom Orji, Wisdom Ubani and Peter Olawale occupied the attacking positions.

The Flying Eagles had a good first half but were not clinical enough to break the deadlock; Olawale and Chris Nwaeze both missed gilt-edged chances.

Just past the hour mark, the Ivory Coast goalkeeper could not prevent Nwaeze from opening the scoring as he headed home from an Ubani free-kick.

The Flying Eagles had a mountain to climb to secure a win after Nwaeze was dismissed for a second bookable offense in the 69th minute, shortly after Ubani missed a clear chance to double the advantage.

The red card unsettled the Flying Eagles and they could not hang on to their 1-0 lead as Ivory Coast equalised in the first minute of stoppage time.

Nigeria will battle Ghana in their second and final Group B match of the WAFU-UFOA Zone B qualifiers on Wednesday, December 9.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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