Olawale Ajimotokan
5 November 2009
Lagos — Nigeria's Golden Eaglets last night regaled with flourish at the Abuja National Stadium where they ripped apart New Zealand 5-0 to set up a quarter final fixture against South Korea on Monday in Calabar.
In a one sided best of 16 match played before a fairly large but inspiring crowd, the defending champions imposed their authority on their rivals by having 71 percent of ball possession relative to the Kiwis' 29 percent. Edafeh Egbedi opened the floodgate in the 15th minute with a left footed drive that took a slight deflection off a New Zealand defender.
Stanley Okoro extended the advantage by tapping home a rebound after Coey Turipa dropped a pile driver by Kenneth Omeruo.
The Nigerians were having all of the possession by running circles around the Oceania lads. Egbedi grabbed his second goal of the game after 28 minutes when he collected a short pass in the area and curled another left-footed strike inside the far post. Five minutes later, things went from bad to worse for the Kiwis as Cameron Lindsay was given his marching orders from referee Massimo Busacca for a nasty tackle an Abdul Ajagun.
With three goals cushion going into the break, the Eaglets literally turned on the heat and enchanted their spectators with interchanging of passes and deft touches.
The introduction of Sani Emmanuel who scored the winner against Argentina in the previous match added an impetus into the match.
He made an instant impact upon coming in for Stanley Okoro by grabbing a brace in the space of four minutes in the 75th and 80th minute Both goals had the hallmark of class and predatory instinct of a great star in the making. First he ran into space to receive a pass, dribbled past a stunned keeper Lindsay to jab into an open goal. He got the second and Nigeria's fifth goal from eight yards out which he tapped beyond the reach of the keeper.
The comprehensive victory has set up the Eaglets for a showdown in Calabar against Korea, which edged out Mexico after a grueling shootout yesterday in Bauchi.
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