From George Aluo, Praia
Hero of the night! That was what the goalkeeper of Pawas Academy of Jos, Ilyasu Ibrahim simply was Thursday night at Estadio Tira Chepau in Praia as his brilliant saves saw his side land in the final of the Africa Youth Cup.
Pawas who starred the tournament on a shaky note relied on Ilyasu’s brilliance to beat Ivorian side Deportivo Academy 5-3 on penalties after full time ended goalless.
Before going into the lottery of penalties, Ilyasu saved a last minute penalty to the admiration of the fans and his teammates and technical crew.
After making the last minute penalty save, Ilyasu during the shoot out stopped two other kicks to put his side in the final where they would face another Ivorian side Volcan Juniors. Volcan had in the first semi final game defeated Bayelsa Restoration Starlets by 2-0 in a game poor goalkeeping on the other hand let Bayelsa down.
Restoration Starlets would now face Deportivo in the losers final.
Coach of Pawas Academy, Paul Wahab while commencing his boys for putting up a good fight said there was nothing to celebrate yet.
“I m going to tell the boys to quickly forget about the semi final and focus on the final match. It’s only after the final that we can celebrate God willing,” Wahab said.
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