Eagles Continue Poor Run, Lose To Korea In Seoul

Austin-Eguavoen

Austin Eguavoen, Eagles' coach.

Austin Eguavoen, Eagles' coach.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles this afternoon continued their poor run in international football, losing 1-2 to South Korea in an international friendly match played at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Seoul.

It was a continuation of the dismal performance of the Nigerian team at this year’s FIFA World Cup held in South Africa last month, where they crashed out in the first round.

The Coach Austin Eguavoen-led Eagles conceded the first goal in the 17th minute of the first half while Osaze Odemwingie equalised with a powerful header in the 25th minute.

Korean goalkeeper, Lee Woonjae, was substituted after conceding the goal from Osaze. The Korean keeper finally bowed out of international football at the age of 37.

Nigeria, in an attempt to increase the tally, failed barely a minute to the break when the Koreans grabbed the ball in their area.

After rounding off the Eagles’ defence marshaled by Danny Shittu, the ball found Hyojin, who beat goalkeeper Dele Aiyenugba to net Korea’s winning goal.

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Although the match was a friendly, the Eagles were not inspiring in their approach to the tie, but their hosts, Korea were tactically better.

Korea paraded 13 of the players they featured in the World Cup, while Nigeria presented few of their World Cup stars.

Osaze, Dickson Etuhu, Kalu Uche, Danny Shittu and Obafemi Martins played against Korea alongside some players from the Nigeria Premier League.

Eguavoen, who led the Eagles to Seoul as Caretaker Coach, was apparently unhappy with the result of the match, as he left the stadium a sad man.

However, Coach Cho Kwang-rae had his debut game as Korea’s handler on a winning note.

Nigeria forced Korea to a draw during their World Cup group match in South Africa in June.

—Tunde Oyedele

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