The Golden Eaglets, fuelled by a deafening
atmosphere inside Zayed Stadium, brought El Tri
down to their knees with an outstanding display
to win the tournament for a fourth time
Nov 8, 2013 6:49:00 PM
Nigeria made an easy
meat of Mexico 3-0 to win
the 15 th edition of the Fifa
U17 World Cup played on
Friday evening in Abu
Dhabi.
A first half own goal by Erick Aguirre and a mid
second half strike from Kelechi Iheanacho were all
the highly-talented Nigerians needed to seal a
fourth title on Asian soil.
The Golden Eaglets were in supreme form inside
a rasping Stadium, ripping the defending world
and Concacaf champions to continue their
unbeaten run, and claim the trophy for a record
fourth time, alongside their triumphs of 1985,
1993 and 2007.
El Tri dominated the early seconds of the
tension-soaked encounter but were unable to
near the rock solid Nigeria defence. Samuel Okon
made the first attempt at goal in the fourth
minute but his shot was not enough to threaten
the Mexican goalie.
Few minutes later, Ivan Ochoa forced Dele
Alampasu to a brilliant safe after his header was
punched for a corner by the impressive Nigerian
goalie. Mexico’s dominance was short-lived after
Erick Aguirre’s own put the Garba Manu ahead in
an attempt to clear away Taiwo Awoniyi’s well
laid pass meant for Musa Yahaya.
Mexico launched a comeback but their attacking
forays were brought under constant check by the
Musa Muhammed anchored defence. Alampasu
made another brilliant save midway in the first
half after saving Ulises Jaimes’s header off a
free-kick taken as a result of Aliyu Abubaker’s
foul on Alejandro Diaz.
The Eaglets could have scored more goals but
were unlucky as Yahaya’s chance in the 40 th
minute rattled the cross bar before Awoniyi’s
side-netted his chance of a pass from Kelechi
Iheanacho.
With less than a minute to the end of the first
half, Awoniyi’s bicycle kick was parried by
goalkeeper Raul Gudino who was well positioned
to clear away the Imperial Academy forward’s
brilliant effort.
Golden Eaglets’ onslaught continued 11 minutes
after the restart when Iheanacho put another past
a shell-shocked Mexico, who showed their
ineptitude at both ends when captain Musa
Muhammed barrage of shots was parried into the
way of Nigeria’s no 10 by Gudino.
Though, Raul Gutierrez made all his changes mid-
way into the second half, that could not hand his
team a glimmer of hope as Golden Eaglets
stamped their authority in all departments of the
game.
Mexico had a few chances to restore a little
pride, but Ochoa’s header from close range went
off target.
However, Muhammed sealed the win with less
than nine minutes to play courtesy of a well
taken free-kick outside the penalty area of the
Mexican after Iheanacho was fouled by Teran.
In addition to this, Nigeria holds the record of the
most goals in a single U17 World Cup tournament
with 25 goals eclipsing the record once set by
Germany in Mexico 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment