U20 WC Ottawa: Flying Eagles Soar To Quarter-Final
By Tokunbo Ojo
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles tore apart Zambia’s Copper Bullets Thursday evening in second round play at Frank Clair Stadium. The game ended 2-1 in Nigeria’s favour.
It was a tough one said coach Ladan Bosso of Nigeria, “But we went for a win and we got it.”
From the kick-off, the Flying Eagles took the game to the Zambians. Their dazzling runs were worrisome for the Zambian defenders. Bala Ezekiel inspired the Nigerian attack.
Before Zambian goalkeeper Jacob Banda and his team could realize what was going on the field, the overlapping Nigerian defender, Uwa Echiejile, came from behind to nod home the Flying Eagles’ first goal.
It came off a corner kick taken from the left flank in the 3rd minute. Although Rodgers Kola put Zambians back in the game 30 minutes later, the Zambian defence was so porous that the Nigerian could have scored at least four goals in the first 20 minutes if they had converted their many chances.
But they just could not score because of selfish individual play upfront. Instead of releasing the ball to the best-positioned player, at the top of Zambia’s box, the Nigerians chose to score from impossible angles.
“They see scouts around them and they try to be individualistic,” said Bosso at the post-match press conference.
At the half, Bosso reminded his boys about the need to play as a team. Nigeria’s coach believed that his half-time talk yielded some results. In the second half, his team played more as a unit.
In the 57th minute, a well-set up play from the midfield sealed the victory for Nigeria. Having received a pass from Ezekiel, Akabueze fired a canon shot few metres away from the Zambian 18th yard box. Zambian keeper could not get his hands on the ball as it dropped into the net.
Despite the fact that Nigeria was favoured to win, the Zambians did not give up the fight till the final whistle. They fought hard for the ball and tried to catch Nigeria on the counter-attack by taking advantage of the huge gaps often left behind by both Nigeria’s overlapping full-backs.
The Zambians created some second half panic moments for the Nigerians, with their counter-attack play. These efforts, however, were not strong enough to make a difference against Nigerians.
“We may have fallen, but we have gained experience for the future,” said Zambian coach George Lwandamina. “The guys showed determination and ambition. They should have no regrets.”
He added that a better team won at the end of the 90 minutes encounter in which both teams gave a good account of themselves in the presence of about 21,000 fans that came to see the match.
This Lwandamina coached team is the second Zambian team to make it to the knock-out stage of any FIFA organized tournament since Zambia Football Association became an affiliate of FIFA in 1964. The other Zambian national team that made it to the knock-out stage of the FIFA tournament is the team that played in the 1988 Olympic Football Tournament in Seoul. Coach Lwandamina was a member of that Zambian team, which upset Italy, in the Seoul ‘88 Olympic.
