Russia 2018: Eagles beat Swaziland, qualify for final round

In from Nifemi Daniel‎ . . .
Two second half goals from Moses Simon and Efe Ambrose was all the Super Eagles needed to beat Swaziland on Tuesday at the Adokiye Amesiamaka Stadium, Port Harcourt to qualify for the final round of the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying stage.
Both sides had played out a goalless draw last Friday in the first leg tie in Lobamba, and it looked like the return leg was headed towards a similar score line after both sides ended the opening half of Tuesday’s encounter without a goal.
But six minutes into the second half, Simon was on hand to curl a freekick past Nhlanla Gwebu in goal for the Swazis and into the back of the net for the game’s opening goal.
It was a fantastic strike from the KAA Gent of Belgium forward, who took his goal tally at international level to three having also scored against Niger and Cameroon in September and October respectively.
And three minutes from the end of the game, and with the Swazis desperate for a goal to secure the advantage on the away goals rule, an unmarked Ambrose was on hand to double Nigeria’s lead after converting Sylvester Igbonu’s freekick.
But the margin of victory would had been greater for Sunday Oliseh’s side but for some excellent goalkeeping from the Swazi goalkeeper, Gwebu, and poor finishing on the part of the Super Eagles.
In the 12th minute, Simon found some space to shoot from the edge of the Swazi penalty area but his effort was too tame to get the better of Gwebu.
Two minutes later, Ogenyi Onazi threaded a pass through to Odion Ighalo, but the Watford forward missed the goal post by a few inches with Gwebu beaten.
On the half-hour mark, Ighalo had another opportunity to put Nigeria in the lead after getting on the end of a long ball from the middle of the park, but he miscued his effort and missed the Swazi goal by a few feet with Gwebu at his mercy.
Two minutes later, it was Igbonu’s turn to join the party as he flashed his shot from the edge of the penalty area, after a fine cutback from Ighalo, a few inches wide of Gwebu’s post.
And the Super Eagles were almost made to rue their handful of fluffed chances when only a minute later Sandile Hlatjwako inexplicably failed to slot the ball into a gaping Nigerian goal following a well worked freekick by the Swazis.

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Two minutes into the second half, Igbonu continued from where he had left off in the first half with an incredible miss from inside the Swazi penalty area after receiving a short pass from Ighalo.
But the Swazis, whose game plan was to catch the Super Eagles on the break, were eventually punished after conceding a freekick on the edge of their penalty area from which Simon diligently curled the ball past a diving Gwebu for Nigeria’s opening goal.
And Onazi came close to making it 2-0 on 70 minutes after dribbling his way into the penalty area only to shoot tamely into Gwebu’s hands. But there was nothing tame about Simon’s effort from inside the penalty area two minutes later, but Gwebu dived low to clutch the goal-bound shot.
In the 77th minute, Gwebu pulled off another great save to deny Ighalo. And three minutes later it was Carl Ikeme’s turn to keep Nigeria in the game by turning a long range effort from Njabulo Ndlovu over his crossbar for a corner kick.
That save appeared to be the much-needed wakeup call the Super Eagles needed as they eventually doubled their lead two minutes from the end courtesy of Ambrose who was on hand to jab Igbonu’s freekick into the back of the net after being left unmarked by the Swazis, who finished the game with 10 men after Phinda Dlamini was sent off for a second bookable offence.

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