Eagles fly above Bafana Bafana

Nigeria maintained their one hundred per cent record in the 2010 FIFA World Cup/African Nations Cup qualifying series with a 1-0 defeat of South Africa in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. In the event, South Afria’s aspiration for a slot at the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola went up in smoke.

Ikechukwu Uche scored his third (and Nigeria’s seventh) goal of the campaign with a rasping grounder in the 69<SUP>th</SUP> minute, much against the run of play.

The hosts huffed and puffed despite dominating for long periods, and Danny Shittu, Chidi Odiah, Taye Taiwo and Obinna Nwaneri had to reach into their rich bags of experience to curtail the barrage of onslaughts from the 2010 World Cup hosts.

Benni McCarthy, making his first Bafana appearance for a long time, did much to ginger the South Africans to play forward, but a combination of good reading of their moves by Shittu and co and the agility of Goalkeeper Bamidele Aiyenugba kept Nigeria firmly in the game.

The large crowd at the Telkom Park in eastern South Africa hoped for much after a first half dominated by the Bafana, and McCarthy’s own confidence grew in the second half as he propelled his team –mates with some creative touches.

Nigeria, missing Skipper Nwankwo Kanu and deputy Skipper Joseph Yobo, took things easy and were content to curtail, until Ikechukwu Uche hearkened to the ‘let’s go’ call of substitute Christian Obodo to turn a defender inside out, and then unleash a grounder that escaped the outstretched palm of the Bafana goal –tender.

With the win, Nigeria went to 15 maximum points in the race, and await an October 11 date at home to Sierra Leone to complete a historic sweep of all the points in this second phase.

Nigeria Football Federation President, Sani Lulu Abdullahi said: “This was mission accomplished. We had impressed it on the players the need to go through the entire race with total seriousness and achieve distinction. We are very happy with the three points and above all, the dedication of the players”.