Posted by By Gbolahan Dada, reporting from Ghana on
Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire turned out to be Nigeria's football nemesis yesterday as they crushed the Super Eagles 1-0 in Group B's opening match in Sekondi. Cote d'Ivoire bundled Nigeria out of the Nations Cup in Egypt two years ago.
Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire turned out to be Nigeria's football nemesis yesterday as they crushed the Super Eagles 1-0 in Group B's opening match in Sekondi. Cote d'Ivoire bundled Nigeria out of the Nations Cup in Egypt two years ago.
A solo run from Chelsea of England star player Salomon Kalou in the 66th minute was all the Elephants needed to put the Nigerians in a tight corner as their qualification for the next round hangs on the balance.
Kalou left three Nigerian defenders standing to shoot home from 15 yards to score the only goal of the game. He meandered his way through the Eagles defence and amidst sea of legs, the striker tucked the ball into the far right corner of goalkeeper Austine Ejide.
In a match that lived up to people's expectation, the Ivoiriens locked up the midfield and ensured that the Eagles strikers of Martins Obafemi and Yakubu Aiyegbeni were completely caught off from rceiving passes from the middle.
John Utaka who could have made the difference from the wing was a shadow of himself as he put all feet wrong. The coming of Onyekachi Okonkwo who came in for injured Nwankwo Kanu and Osaze Odemwinge who came in for out-of-form John Utaka could not give the Nigerians the equaliser.
Nigeria missed a golden opportunity in the first half to go ahead when Taye Taiwo's inter-ballistic missile hit the bar and Kanu messed up the rebound. After that , it became a ding dong show between the two teams who seemed to show a lot of respect for each other.
The victory against fellow favourites in the first match give s the Ivoiriens an edge to top the group and move to the next round.
Despite the abundance of talent in the Super Eagles' squad, Berti Vogts' team laboured but were unable to respond.
The Eagles take on Mali in the second match on Friday.