The Super Eagles in the early hours of today defeated the national team of Venezuela by 3-1.
Nigeria started the match against Venezuela in a 4-3-3
formation with Obafemi Martins, Brown Ideye and Bright Dike as fowards. While
Newcastle striker Shola Amoebi finally got his Nigerian debut.
The first minutes on the dry Marlins Park pitch saw the players
trying to adjust to the bounce of the ball with the Venezuelans settling the
quicker. Ejike in the second minute tried to jiggle his way past defenders in
the box but conceded a free kick. Juan Arango almost found Salomon Rondon in
the fifth minute which saw the Super Eagles defence exposed with just one pass.
The midfield trident of Ogenyi Onazi, Nosa Igiebor and
Henry Uche were not well coordinated in the early part of the match with Onazi
hitting too many short passes that put his mates in trouble. Igiebor was good
on the ball and in the seventh minute released Ideye but the Dynamo Moscow
striker saw his shot well gathered.
The Venezuelans thought they had scored the opener in the
14th minute off a free kick by Arango but the referee rightly adjudged that
some Venezuelan players had strayed into offside positions.
Nigeria got a corner kick in the 20th minute that was
taken by Solomon Kwambe but missed all his targets.
The Venezuelans were catching the Eagles defence with
just one pass from midfield – Arango to Rondon and if not for the quick
intervention of stand-in captain, Austin Ejide, the Eagles may have gone down
to some goals. A Rivas shot was deflected for a corner kick in the 25th minute
while another good cross from Arango slightly eludes Rondon again.
The Eagles could have taken the lead in the 28th minute
when Igiebor burst forward from midfield but his pas to Martins was a tad heavy
with the Levante striker in good shooting position. Henry Uche had to make way
in the 33rd minute after he had been on the end of some heavy challenges and
was replaced by Raheem Lawal. Martins had a shot on the turn in the 41st minute
but it went wide.
The first half ended with the Eagles having the better of
possession but the Venezuelans had the more goal scoring chances.
In the second half, the Eagles flew out of the blocks and
scored the opening goal in the 47 minute through Ideye. A move started on the
right by Igiebor saw Kwambe deliver a low cross into the box which was tapped
in by the Dynamo Moscow striker for his first goal for the national team.
Igiebor followed that with a spectacular 40-yard shot in
the 53rdminute that beat Hernandez in goal for Venezuela all ends up.
The South Americans reacted after these setbacks but were
let back into the game when an otherwise steady Oboabona gave possession to
Arango, who in turn fed Frank Veltra, who placed a low shot past Ejide.
Arango now led the charge for the equaliser and they had
series of corner kicks but the Nigerian defence held firm. Shola Ameobi
replaced Martins in the 61 minute – the Newcastle man making his international
debut for Nigeria.
They could have gotten their equaliser in the 84thminute
after another careless giveaway. Lawal was caught in possession near the box
but Ejide made a good save with his leg to concede a corner kick.
There were unsavoury scenes in the closing stage of the
match when Igiebor took his time getting substituted for which he was shown a
yellow card. Onazi settled the affair in added time as he swept in a low shot
after Ameobi has passed to him in the box to make it 3-1 to the Nigerian team.
Coach Stephen Keshi will have been very pleased with the
performances of some of the players but some did not cover themselves in any
glory.
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