Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

Lagos -- Paul Onuachu delivered a second goal in as many games after being left out of the substantive invitation lists for the African Cup of Nations qualifiers. His goal against Lesotho, today in Lagos, was one of three notched by Nigeria in a game where there are concerns. Nigeria had qualified for the AFCON before this game against Lesotho  but Lesotho had also been eliminated. With both teams essentially playing a pressure-less game, it was no more than a glorified international friendly in Lagos. However, a catalog of errors by Nigeria ensured that there are concerns from a game that Nigeria was always destined to win by a mile. The first half was frightful. There were loads of misplaced passes, surprisingly poor and few chances created by the Nigerians. Tyrone Ebuehi, one of the few bright spots on the team, delivered an outstanding performance in a game where few of his team mates did little to impress. Nigeria dominated territorially with Ebuehi and Sanusi presenting the w...

Port Novo, Benin Republic: Nigeria's Super Eagles underlined superiority in beating Benin Republic 1-0 in Port Novo, Benin Republic today after already qualifying for the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Nigeria's superiority was never in doubt, in this game, and the score could have reflected a bigger margin. However, because Nigeria had already qualified before the opening whistle, it seemed that Benin Republic was going to be saved from the sword. Well, Benin was just a minute to celebration when Paul Onuachu popped up to score the winner in a scramble. For Onuachu, it was redemption after being vilified by Nigerian fans for tepid performances in recent games. With nothing at stake for Nigeria, Coach Gernot Rohr uncharacteristically gave a debut to Anayo Iwuala [ see Photo ] of the locally-based Aba Enyimba. It was a reward following reports of astonishing performances in training. Iwuala was neither in Rohr's initial invitation list for the games nor was he ...