Sports

U-23 Eagles shock Brazil 1-0 at home

Published

8 years ago

March 25, 2016

The U-23 Eagles Thursday night proved bookmakers wrong as they inflicted a 1-0 away victory over their Brazilian counterparts in an international friendly in Brazil.

The match, which was part of both teams’ preparation for the Rio Olympics billed for August 2016 in Brazil, saw the U-23 Eagles scoring an early goal through Ubong Ekpai’s header in the 5th minute.

R.S.C. Anderlecht of Belgium striker, Imoh Ezekiel ran through the Brazilian defence to lay a pass to Popoola Sodiq, whose shot hit the cross bar but Ubong Ekpai was there to head in the rebound.

The interim head coach of the Nigeria U-23 team, Fatai Amoo, said the display of his boys against host Brazil has justified their emergence as the African champions, and shown that they really can win gold at the Olympics in Rio come August this year.

“The first half was very difficult for us, but then it is expected, having in mind that we scored an early goal and as such it was expected they would come all out against us to get the equalizer, but I must give my boys a lot of credit for holding their own.

“The boys did a great job. If you recall that 80 percent of the boys we brought here were just meeting one another for the first time, and we needed to see all of them in match situation. I’m happy we have seen them and this is hoping that as we play more friendlies, we would discover more players that will compete for jerseys before the Olympics proper.

“No doubt, our goalkeeper (Emmanuel Daniel) kept us in the game with a number of great saves before he was substituted. Even the substitute (Yusuf Mohammed) also did his bit. All in all, some players like Ezekiel Imoh and Sodiq Popoola were outstanding and I am happy for the team.”

Nigeria goalkeeper, Emmanuel Daniel, had his hands full as he made two excellent saves from Gabriel’s shot and Felipe Anderson’s effort in the first half.

Turkey-based Nigeria defender, Musa Mohammed was booked in the 16th minute, for stamping on a Brazilian midfielder.‎

For the second half, Brazil made three changes, throwing in Wallace, Clayton and Wendell.

Clayton threatened the Nigerian goal just two minutes after his introduction, but goalkeeper Daniel was alive to his responsibilities. Malcolm and Andreas Pereira of Manchester United were also brought on but they just could not get past the Nigeria back-line. ‎

‎Nigeria made four changes, which saw Victor Osimhen come in for Taiwo Awoniyi, Junior Ajayi for Ekpai, Amaefule Chizoba for Keigo and Sincere Seth for Ovbokha.

Brazilian goalkeeper, Ederson also was at alert throughout the game courtesy of the constant threat from Imoh Ezekiel.

The trio of Junior Ajayi, Imoh Ezekiel and Victor Osimhen all had chances to add to Nigeria’s tally but couldn’t score.

Brazil were always a threat coming forward as Emmanuel Daniel did well to save another Gabriel effort before substitute goalkeeper, Yusuf Mohammed tipped over the bar from a brilliant strike by Fernando.

Starting XI:

Daniel Emmanuel, Effiong Ndifreke, Mohammed Musa, Ovbokha Agboyi, Oduduwa Segun, Keigo Saturday, Ubong Ekpai, Awoniyi Taiwo, Imoh Ezekiel, Popoola Sodiq, Dimgba Stanley.

Subs:

Y.Mohammed, S. Sincere, A. Chizoba, I.Believe, Junior Ajayi, V. Osimhen, N. Oduwa. G. Ekpolo, S. Theophilus.

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