Nigeria\u2019s U-17 side, Golden Eaglets\u00a0 on Sunday<\/span><\/span> narrowly lost 3-2 to\u00a0Croatia\u00a0 and finished in third place at the 2015 Suwon Continental Cup\u00a0International Youth (U-17) Football Tournament in Korea.<\/p>\n

The Emmanuel Amuneke-led Eaglets came close\u00a0 to winning the\u00a0tournament after topping the four-nation invitational tournament\u00a0following a 1-1 draw against Korea and\u00a0 a 2-1\u00a0 win against Brazil\u00a0previously, but they were halted in their stride in an ill-tempered\u00a0match that saw the Croats being booked four times\u00a0 and Nigeria once.\u00a0Croatia went into in front with a well taken free-kick by Josip\u00a0Brekalo outside the Nigerian box and they held on tenaciously to the\u00a0lead throughout the first half with their gutsy style.<\/p>\n

Amuneke\u00a0brought in Funsho Bamgboye for Gavi Thompson on resumption of the\u00a0second half and minutes later pulled out captain Kelechi Nwakali\u00a0for David Enogela all in the bid to stabilize the midfield. The\u00a0Golden Eaglets soon seized the initiatives and mounted pressure\u00a0against the Croats who collapsed and conceded an own goal following a\u00a0goalmouth melee in the 61st minute.<\/p>\n

In the 78th minute, Victor Osimhen put the Golden Eaglets in front\u00a0and were they actually cruising until\u00a0 the 82nd minute when the referee\u00a0penalized Ejike Ikwu for tripping Brekalo who converted\u00a0 the\u00a0resultant penalty kick.\u00a0That broke the resolve\u00a0 of the Nigerians and few minutes later,\u00a0Davor Lovren scored the winner when he drove the ball in off a pull-out to\u00a0end the match in a dramatic 3-2 win for the\u00a0 Europeans.\u00a0\u201cWe would have loved to win here but\u00a0 it was unfortunate it ended\u00a0this way,\u201d Amuneke said afterwards.<\/p>\n

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