15th August, 2012
Tunde Oyedele
Although, Nigeria’s Super Eagles failed to score in Wednesday’s international friendly against the Menas of Niger Republic, Coach Stephen Keshi left the Stade General Seyni Kountche in Niamey a happy man.
The international friendly, which both teams used to prepare for the upcoming Nations Cup qualifiers in September, ended in a barren draw.
The entertaining encounter, watched by about 25,000 fans at the 50,000 capacity stadium in Niamey, saw both sides playing as if it was a cup final.
Niger started the challenge early in the 5th minute, when Boubacar Talatou tried to chip the ball past Nigeria’s goalkeeper/skipper, Chigozie Agbim.
Unfortunately, the Warri Wolves man slipped, picked himself up and went for a save, but he hit his shoulder against the woodwork. The Nigerian bench looked worried but after the medics attended to him, the keeper returned to his position.
Isoufou Boubacar, Sidibe Modibo and Mohammed Soumaila, also rattled the Nigerian defence in the first half, but Azubuike Egwueke, Papa Idis and Juwon Oshaniwa stopped their daring moves.
Egwueke gave his bench another scare in the 20th minute when he was stretched off after hitting the ground while attempting a clearance, but he also returned to action after treatment.
From then on, Nigeria took the game to their hosts, who featured eight professionals in their squad.
Uche Kalu almost hit target midway into the half, but his curved free kick was deflected into touch by the Menas defenders.
The resultant corner kick was Nigeria’s 9th corner kick in the tie, while the Menas played five. Kalu had other chances in the 27th and 35th minutes but wasted them.
That was before Ejike Uzoenyi’s blistering run from the right flank fell to Mba who also blasted wide.
In the second half, stand-in coach of Niger Republic, Frederic Acosta made six changes but the tactics did not change the result, as Nigeria continued to dictate the pace of the game.
Agbim was again called to duty by danger man, Kalilou Dawouda, whose chip was going into the net before the big Nigerian keeper palmed clear for a corner kick.
Keshi also made some changes, as he brought in Umar Zango for a tired Idris, Kwambe was pulled out for Ugonna, Philip Asuquo for Sunday Mba, Sibi Gwar for Ejike Uzoenyi and Sanni Sanusi came in for Uche Kalu.
As usual, Asuquo seized the midfield from the hosts but the chances created were wasted by Sani, Reuben and Gwar until the referee blew the final whistle after five minutes of extra time. Solomon Kwambe, Solomon Jabason and Kalilou Dawodu, all of Niger were booked for rough play, while Sanni Sanusi of Nigeria also got a yellow card in the match.
Keshi believes his team would have won the match, but the former coach of Togo affirmed that he was impressed by the attitude of the players, who kept their concentration to the optimum throughout the encounter.
“Its a good warm up tie ahead of the Liberia game, and we should pick a good result in the Nations Cup encounter, because we did not play today’s tie with the complement of our Europe-based stars,” Keshi said.