By Kwamena JAFFUUL – Ghana

Following weeks of political unrest in the North Africa nation Libya as host for the 2011 CAF African Youth Championship, the U-20 tournament has been moved to the country, which successfully hosted the World Cup last year South Africa.

The event which was slatted Friday the 18^th of this month now kicks off in SA on Sunday the 17^th of April and ends on Monday the 2^nd of May due to the crisis currently rocking Libya.

“We decided to move the African Youth Championship to South Africa and it will be played from April 17 to May 2,” said CAF President, Issa Hayatou Wednesday.

South African U-20 team the Amajita, who were initially knocked out by Lesotho now takes former hosts Libya’s slot.

The four teams that reach the semi-finals of the competition will qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011, which will take place between July 29 and August 20 this year.

South Africa will play Mali in the opening match, with Egypt and Lesotho, the other two nations Group A, up against each other on the same day.

Nigeria’s Flying Eagles is paired in the ‘Group of Death’ (Group B) with Ghana, Cameroon and Gambia, kicks of their campaign against world champions, Ghana and follow up with Cameroon.

The winners of Group A play the runners-up in Group B, while the runners up in Group A will meet the winners of Group B.

In a bid to give the Flying Eagles a good chance of progressing, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) sent the team on a four-week playing tour, which took them to Libya, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, where they played five friendly matches – losing only once 2-1 to Egypt

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Tags: Cameroon, Flying Eagles, Libya, South Africa

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