The Flying Eagles on Sunday qualified for next year's AYC after they defeated South Africa 3-1 to advance 4-2 on aggregate.
Flying Eagles coach John Obuh commended the resilience of the South Africans.
"They are a very good team and they kept uson our toes from start to finish," said Obuh.
"Kudos to the entire team for putting in their best to ensure we will be in Algeria to now defend our crown."
The Flying Eagles took the game from the first blast of the whistle but it was not until the 38th minute when MVP Abduljaleel Ajagun turned smartly inside the six-yard box before firing past goalkeeper Lebo Ngubeni.
But almost immediately the Amajita drew level on the back of a quick counter attack asthe Nigerians seem to still be celebrating their opening goal.
And again it was danger man Thabani Mthembu who scored for South Africa, just as he had done two weeks ago in Nelspruit.
"It was a mistake on our part as we over celebrated our goal and we got punished forit," lamented Obuh after this exciting clash between two good sides.
The game was then delicately balanced at 1-1 before Ajagun delivered the best goal of the day on 45 minutes when he blasted home into the roof of the net to the relief of the big crowd at the Kwara State Stadium.
Enugu Rangers striker Alhaji Gero further settled the nerves of the home crowd when he slipped home a stylish through ball by the outstanding Ajagun.
However, to the credit of the visiting South Africa they did not give up the fight as they now opened up and took the game to their hosts.
Goalkeeper and skipper Samuel Okani was athis best as he kept out a goal-bound shot in the 74th minute and in stoppage time, Okanitipped another effort for a corner as Amajita continued to press for another goal.
Okorie was forced to clear into the side netting for a corner as South Africa kept on the pressure.
And when the Ghanaian referee blew the final whistle, players, officials and fans erupted into a wild celebration.
Meanwhile Capital Oil and Gas has redeemed a pledge of $15,000 made by its chief executive Ifeanyi Ubah to the Flying Eagles.
A representative of the oil company, Nnanna Egwuonwu, made the cash presentation on behalf of his chairman at the Bovina View Hotel in Ilorin soon after the African champions outscored South Africa 4-2 on aggregate to qualify for the 2013 AYC in Algeria.
"Congratulations to the Flying Eagles for a marvellous result and performance," said Egwuonwu, who is the chief inspector of Capital Oil.
"We are most honoured to have redeemed the Amabssador's Bonus as pledged by our chief executive, Ifeanyi Ubah."
Two-goal hero Abduljaleel Ajagun also received the MVP cash award of $2,000 from the capital Oil representative.
Ubah is the Nigeria Youth Football Ambassador and he hosted the same team when they reached the last eight of the 2011 U20 World Cup in Colombia. Source:Completesportnigeria
they did great in making nigeria proud.God bless them