Super Eagles devour Desert Foxes With temperature at 22 degrees Celsius, the Algerians were at home and only had pride to play for rather than either a stake in the Germany 2006 or CAF Nations Cup - Egypt2006 - but the Nigerians knew it wasn’t tea party and took the game to the hosts quite early with Libyan referee Abdulhalkim Shelmani’s giving a bizarre decision of calling Inter Milan’s Obafemi Martins’ 18th minute strike for penalty after he was fouled before he scored.
courstesy fifa.com Nineteen minutes later, Italy -based Ayodele Makinwa ,long taunted as replacement for Middlesborough's Yakubu Aiyegbeni,- laid a long cross field ball for France based John Utaka, who slammed home for a Super Eagles' 2-0 lead. , Now fully in control of the game, the Nigerians became relaxed and sometimes played to the fans but held on to their lead at half time. The North Africans caught the Super Eagles off-guard on resumption as it took only three minutes for Hamza Yacef, to slam home their first of the night in the 48th minute to a reception of fire-crackers and loud cheers from the home fans. Buoyed by the early goal, the Desert Foxes took the game to the visitors and in no time, an overworked Utaka, got the wrong call of Libyan referee Shelmani, who gave him the marching order for a drama show by an Algerian player. Playing with 10 men, the Nigerians were still trying a new act of curtailment, when Algeria’s Mansour Boutabout, struck beyond out -of -position Vincent Enyeama for their deserved equalizer. This time the Algerian fans became ecstatic and behaved like they’ve just won themselves a World Cup ticket. With tempers now very high on both sides, Algeria’s Karim Ziani, got on Shelmani’s wrong side and was rewarded with a 64th minute red card for ungentlemanly conduct. The game now settled down to 10 men apiece and both teams played some imaginative football with the Nigerians becoming more adventurous up-front. The desperation by the Super Eagles to earn their respect in African football was made somewhat ironic in one moment of confusion, as Olympique Marseilles’ Wilson Oruma-s goal-bound header was knocked off the Algerian goal line by an on-rushing Martins. Manager Austin Eguavoen introduced Nwankwo Kanu, for Chidi Odiah who had a fair share of the game. Ironically, the introduction of Kanu, who many back home believe shouldn’t have had a place in the team, reinvigorated the Nigerians and kept the hosts on edge. Kanu connected Martins from the right and his shot was not completely cleared off by Mezair leaving the room for Eagle- eyed Makinwa to put his side ahead in the 81 minute. Algeria 2 - Nigeria 3. Unbelievable, but Nigerians were on cruise control as they dictated the pace of the game once again. Inter’s Martins' remarkable work rate yielded the dividend in the 89th with a beautiful strike past Mezair to give the Super Eagles 4-2 lead (his second in the night) and their World Cup place back in contention. But the Eagles weren’t done yet, not until Martins put Christian Obodo, through in the 90th for their 5-2 annihilation of the Foxes in their hole. Nigeria who face Zimbabwe October 7 in Abuja are tied 18 points with Angola in the Group 4 standing with the Southern Africans having a head-to-head meeting advantage which means the Super Eagles would have to win their next game and hoping that Angolans falter. . By Jo Benson 12
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