Sand Eagles Fall Narrowly to African Champions Senegal in Kaduna Friendly

Nigeria’s Sand Eagles suffered a narrow 6-4 defeat to reigning African champions Senegal in the first of two international beach soccer friendlies in Kaduna on Saturday.

The Murtala Muhammed Square Beach Soccer Pitch provided the setting for an entertaining and fiercely contested encounter, with Nigeria showing enough quality and resilience against one of Africa’s leading beach soccer nations.

Senegal took the lead through Laye Diagne, but the Sand Eagles responded quickly as Abdullahi Hassan restored parity.

Hassan proved to be Nigeria’s standout performer, scoring all four of his team’s goals and earning the Man-of-the-Match award.

Senegal’s other goals came from Mamadou Sylla, who completed a hat-trick, Ninou Jean-Paul Diatta and Asane Ba as the African champions secured a 6-4 victory.

The Sand Eagles will have an opportunity to respond when both teams meet again at the same venue on Monday morning.

The two matches form part of Nigeria’s preparations for the CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against Ghana later this month.

For Senegal, the friendlies are part of their preparations for the Beach Soccer AFCON, where they will enter as defending champions and hosts.