Duro Ikhazuagbe
13 November 2009
Lagos — Cup holders, Nigeria's Golden Eaglets last night strolled to the final of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, inflicting a 3-1 pain on hard fighting Spain. The second semi final of the day, coming just two hours after Switzerland despatched Colombia in a 4-0 bashing at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, appears to have set the stage for Nigeria's back-to-back win of this global cadet football fiesta.
Heartland of Owerri star, dimunitive Stanley Okoro set the ball rolling in the half hour mark. He collecting a long, loose ball from midfield, then broke into the goal area, baited the La Rojita keeper, before slipping the ball inside the near post for the curtain raiser. That goal brought down the roof of the freshly refurbished Teslim Balogun Stadium, as thousands of ball fans who crammed into the arena, sang and danced in joyful mood. Before that goal, both Aigbe Oliha and Edafe Egbedi had rattled Spanish defence with great strikes respectively.
After Okoro's goal, the Spaniards came out from break with renewed vigour. Just three minutes into the half Jordi Amat forced Nigerian keeper Dami Paul into a fine diving save. Then, on the hour mark, Paul needed to be sharp again when a flicked-on free-kick from Isco required him to stretch at full length to his left to keep the ball from going into the net. Just seconds later, however, the Eaglets put the game out of reach, when super sub, Sani Emmanuel grabbed his fourth goal. He pounced on a long throw-in into the Spanish penalty area to hit a fast ball into the far left of the keeper.
In the 71st minute, Emmanuel again chased down a long ball, collecting well on the chest and poking expertly past the Spanish keeper to make it 3-1 and his own fifth goal to share the top of the goalador chart with two others
The Spaniards, who pulled a late goal back through Borja (also on five goals) in the 83rd minute, are to meet Colombia in the third-place consolation match earlier in the day on Sunday at the Abuja National Stadium.
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