Sports
S’ Eagles Thump B/Faso 4-1 In Kaduna
Brown Ideye scored a brace as Nigeria raced to a 4-1 friendly win over Burkina Faso at the Ahmedu Bello Stadium in Kaduna yesterday evening.
Nigeria dominated the opening minutes of the game with Shola Ameobi and John Ogu coming close to opening scoring inside the first ten minutes.
The Super Eagles deservedly took the lead when Brown Ideye capitalised on a goalkeeping error by Diarra Lare to open scoring in the 13th minute. Nsofor could have doubled Nigeria’s lead three minutes later, but the former Kwara United player blasted wide.
Nigeria continued to trouble the Stallions with Echiejile and Nsofor making several incursions into the vital area of the opposition from the left flank.
With the half-time drawing close, Ideye struck again to double Nigeria’s lead after latching onto a sublime pass from Ogu, to give the Super Eagles a two-goal cushion over their West African rivals going into the break.
Nigeria resumed the second half in explosive fashion, with Ogu coming close to extending Nigeria’s lead with a left-footed strike which could not beat the goalkeeper.
Ameobi eventually scored his first international goal to extend Nigeria’s lead in the 53rd minute, after a neat exchange of passes with Nsofor and Ideye.
Nsofor, however made way for Emenike two minutes later, and the Fenerbache striker added his name to the scoresheet eight minutes later after being put through on goal by a pass from Ogenyi Onazi.
The game lost its tempo in the latter stages, with Nigeria’s coach Stephen Keshi making a series of substitutions.
Burkina Faso however got a consolatory goal in the 78th minute, when Saidou Simpore tucked in a cross from the left flank after catching the Nigerian defence napping.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.