The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria beat Tunisia 4-2 in an entertaining semi-final played in Marrakech on Wednesday . Nigeria will now play Cote d'Ivoire in the final on Saturday while hosts Morocco and Tunisia play for third and fourth place .
The Golden Eaglets stormed out of the blocks as Success Isaac found Kelechi Iheanacho with a square ball barely seconds in and only good reflexies from goalkeeper Ben Chrifia prevented an early goal. But hardly a minute later Iheanacho returned to score from a through ball. Nigerian play was proving to be too much for overwhelmed Tunisia who looked shell-shocked and struggling to live with the Nigerians
Eleven minutes into the game Musa Yahaya made it 2-0 after receiving a pass from a give and go situation. Tunisia made an early substitution and seemed to have steadied the ship for a period. The Carthage Eaglets soon found their rhythm and had first sight of goal when a well worked move ended with a shot from captain Chamseddine Samti that just sailed over the cross bar. Success made it 3-0 Nigeria after a corner kick was flicked onto the far post where he controlled the ball before side footing into the net with the clock showing only twenty minutes of play. Fears of a whitewash lingered on the faces of ,many in the stadium as Nigerians were simply overpowering the Tunisians but what happened next was stuff that make football an great spectacle and entertaining sport.
On 25th minute midfielder Mouez Aboud won a tackle and chipped in a well weighed ball into striker Hazem Hassen Haj path and the latter squared for Mohamed Ben Larbi to side foot home to make it 3-1. Tunisia made the most of the change in fortune and within minutes saw a header come off the cross bar as Nigerian defence seem to be troubled by the high balls. Having picked on this, Carthage Eaglets sent in delivery after into the box as the Nigerians seemed to be in disharmony at the back and goalkeeper Adeyinka Adewale was struggling with the crosses. Tunisia struck again on 29th minute from a free-kick which was headed in by Haj Hassen who ghosted in front of his marker
After playing thirty minutes it was 3-2 and the game had taken away the breth of those in the stadium and no-one knew which way the drama would unfold. The Nigerians needed the half time break more than Tunisia as the game had swung in the latter's favour much to their disbelief.
It was evident upon resumption that the coaches had addressed issues during the break as the game took off a less quick pace and calmness had been restored in as far as the Nigerians were concerned. Both sides knew the next goal was crucial and both were going for it though more cautiously than before. When it came, it was a beauty of a goal. Yahaya collected a diagonal ball while on the left flank. He dribbled his way into the penalty box before firing past Chrifia from the narrowest of angles and his moment of brilliance put Nigeria 4-2 up.
Although the Tunisians showed belief in their play and kept pushing for a way back into the game it actually was Nigeria who looked more likely to add on to the score, with Success, Iheanacho, Yahaya and Bulbwa all going close and perhaps with more composure should have scored. There were no further goals and the entertaining match ended at 4-2 in The Golden Eaglets' favour and they get a chance to meet again the only side to have beaten them at the tournament in Cote d' Ivoire in the final on saturday
No comments:
Post a Comment