Nigeria’s Super Eagles Saturday extinguished the Flames of Malawi with a two-goal victory in the final Group F qualifying matches to face the last hurdle to Brazil 2014 World Cup.
Goals from Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses in each half at the U. J Esuene Stadium Calabar, Cross River State gave Nigeria victory to consolidate her leadership of the group leaving the Super Eagles however with only the challenge of winning the next phase of the competition as determined by the Confederation of African Football [CAF].
What’s on the mind of the players now is how to emerge victorious against any of the nine other countries that CAF would pair Nigeria against to produce one of the five finalists to represent Africa at the world’s biggest football event in the South American country of Brazil.
It took the Nigerian boys 45 minutes of the first half for the first goal to come. A string of passes from midfield found Ogenyi Onazi who lofted a pinpoint pass to Emenike whom in a jiffy slotted in the ball to the bewilderment of the Malawian keeper, Swini Charles.
This goal brought relief to Nigerians at the stadium and home that had become impatient as the Eagles had nothing to justify their dominance of the game. A minute later, the referee ended the half which the Flames played more of defensive than attacking football. But once the second half resumed, they came out of their shell to play.
In the 55th minute, Nnamdi Oduamadi was brought down inside the Malawian box and the referee wasted no time to point to the box. The resultant penalty was converted by Liverpool FC new boy, Victor Moses.
The Flames made occasional incursions into the Nigerian goal with well taken shots but stand-in captain cum goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama gave them no chance. Tom Saintfiet, coach of the visiting team stood for most of the 90 minutes and when the heat was too much for him to bear he had to pull off his suit.
A hard tackle on Ahmed Musa earned Mzava Limbikadi a red card as he had earlier been shown a yellow.
Victor Moses was substituted by Nosa Igiebor, Shola Ameobi came in for Emmanuel Emenike while Uche Nwofor replaced Nnamdi Oduamadi. Mikel Obi was voted the Most Valuable Player of the match and went home with $5,000 courtesy TomTom.
Source: Thisdayonline
