Flying Eagles of Nigeria won the third-place match of the AFCON U20 through penalty shootout after goalkeeper Rufai Abubakar’s heroic saves guaranteed them a bronze medal. It was a win for Nigeria at the expense of hosts Egypt, at the 2025 AFCON U20 tournament.
Abubakar, who plays for amateur side, Mavlon FC of Lagos never tested action in the tournament until he replaced goalkeeper Yakub in the dying minutes of the game, before the centre referee signalled the end of 90 minutes and straight to penalties.
The introduction of Abubakar by the technical crew of the Flying Eagles led by Aliyu Zubairu proved to be a good strategy, as the former Golden Eagles rose to the occasion to save two penalty kicks from Egypt, while his teammates were very clinical scoring all the four penalty kicks to make sure that Nigeria did not leave Cairo empty- handed.
Abubakar demonstrated strong composure and confidence to deny Egypt despite the noise and distractions from their fans.
It was the fifth time the Flying Eagles will be winning bronze medal at the AFCON U 20 tournament. Nigeria is seventh time winners of the tournament and came second twice.
Extrasportnigeria 
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