Obuh marvels, as classy Eaglets beat Kiwis 5-0
From Olalekan Okusan, Abuja
GOLDEN Eaglets’ coach, John Obuh, yesterday described Nigeria’s 5-0 defeat of New Zealand as a big surprise, saying he never expected anything like that.
Reacting after the comprehensive defeat of the Kiwis, Obuh said his boys chose the occasion to justify his faith in them, adding that they put into practice everything they had done in training. He said: “I always knew that these boys were a class apart from their peers even when the results in our initial games did not go as we planned.
“These boys have convinced me once again that with better support from Nigerians they will go places. But this is just the beginning of things to come. The journey is still far, so we will go back to plan for our next game, which I hope will further shut up those that have been doubting the abilities of my boys.”
The Eaglets chose a day Nigerians trooped out to cheer their U-17 team to success at the ongoing FIFA World Cup to announce their readiness to defend the trophy they won at South Korea 2007, hitting hapless New Zealand 5-0. Scoring three goals in the first half, the lads went on to win the game 5-0 and fairly well cruised through the first knockout game to book a quarter-finals slot, where they will lock horns with fast-moving Asian outfit, Korea Republic, in Calabar.
It did not take the Nigerians long to open their account, Edafeh Egbebi scoring with a left-foot scorcher in the 14th minute after some clever work out wide by Terry Envoh. The Stunned New Zealanders – playing in their first-ever knockout game at a FIFA finals – were in over their heads, and 10 minutes later they were 2-0 down when Stanley Okoro hopped on the end of a spilled ball by New Zealand’s goalkeeper, Coey Turipa.
The Nigerians were having all the possession and running circles around the Oceania lads. Egbedi grabbed his second goal of the game after 28 minutes when he collected a short pass in the area and curled another left-footed strike inside the far post. Five minutes later, things went from bad to worse for the Kiwis as Cameron Lindsay got a marching order for a nasty tackle.
The second half saw the Nigerians turn on the style, focusing more on impressing the home crowd with their deft flicks and cheeky tricks than on putting the ball in the Kiwis’ net. Eventually, the hosts got their minds back on direct football. Sani Emmanuel grabbed two goals in a space of four minutes (74′ and 79′) to make it 5-0 and put the result well and truly beyond all doubt.
The Nigerian super-sub first dribbled around the goalkeeper before poking into an open goal, firing home from eight yards out. The impressive Okoro assisted both of the strikes.
With this victory, the Eaglets will now move on to Calabar, where they will meet Korea Republic, which edged out Mexico on penalties in their round of 16 meet in Bauchi. In the other match of the day, Spain thrashed Burkina Faso 4-1 in Kano.
