Despite the relentless rain, both teams displayed commendable determination in a fiercely contested match that ultimately ended without a breakthrough.

It was a match characterised by near misses as both sides threw away golden opportunities to put their countries through in the entire 90 minutes of play.

The Nigerians, the defending champions, were the first to threaten their opponent as Imrana Muhammad came close to scoring just four minutes into the match, only to narrowly miss the target.

Burkina Faso's Issouf Bara responded almost immediately with a chance of his own, but failed to shoot past Nigerian goalkeeper Adekunle Adedigba.

In the 19th and 24th minutes, Nigeria missed great opportunities to score as they fired blankly at begging opportunities.

Near misses

Throughout the encounter, both sides created numerous opportunities but were unable to capitalise on them. Nigeria's Abdulmuiz Olamideji and Burkina Faso's Kobana Ouattara came close with strikes from outside the box but were denied by solid goalkeeping.

As the match progressed, Nigeria's Destiny Samuel earned a free kick near the box but skipper Simon Cletus's effort sailed over the bar. The pattern continued till Ghanaian referee Adaari Abdul