supersport.com
Niger retained her crown as the Airtel U17 Rising Stars champion in Lagos today by beating Zambia -in a shootout 7-6.
Despite the rain it was a large crowd that witnessed an exciting final that saw Niger take an early lead and almost end the game 1-0. But just towards the end the Southern Africans clawed their way back with an amazing equalizer with just 7 mins left.
The game finally ended deadlocked and Niger and Zambia for a second day in a row were forced to settle things by penalties. As we remember Niger has ousted hosts Nigeria 8-7 while Zambia had edged out Tanzania 4-3 in the semifinals played yesterday.
At first no team refused to blink with each team converting her initial five kicks. Things fell apart for Zambia at kick number seven that was ballooned into the Lagos sky. Niger would not need a second chance and promptly converted her last kick retaining the cup for West Africa.
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Later supersport.com caught up with Musa Mohammed from Niger who shared “ We are ever so happy to do our country proud and wish to thank Airtel for all their support. They are truly great and believe them when they say that if you can play they will find you”.