Golden Eaglets thrashes Guinea 4 -0 in Conakry

As NFF hails team

Eaglets' skipper Musa Mohammed and team mate, Ifeanyi Matthew block Guinea's Sylla Katty's path during the match on Sunday.  Courtesy: Morakinyo Abodunrin, Eaglet's media officer

The Golden Eaglets on Sunday confirmed its superiority over the Junior Syli Stars of Guinea with a  4-0 victory at the Stade du 28 Septembre in Conakry to qualify for the final round of the 2003 Under-17 Championship on a 7-0 aggregate.  

Eaglets' performance was an improvement on its 3-0 win at home in Calabar a fortnight ago as it virtually dominated the home team throughout the duration of the match.

Success Isaac, Alhassan Ibrahim and Kelechi Iheanacho and Musa Yahaya were the goals scorers as the Nigerian youngsters proved that the last victory at home was not a fluke.  

Attacking midfielder, Bernard Bulbwa was the hero of the day when he created the three first half goals much to the delight of the technical crew.

In the 23rd minute, Bulbwa broke free from the right wing and evaded his markers before sending a pin-point pass to Isaac to score the opening goal of the match. Bulbwa was also the originator of the second goal in the 37th minute when he set up Ibrahim on the right wing.

Ibrahim surprisingly shot straight into the net to the bewilderment of the usually adventurous Guinean goalkeeper, Gandeka Ibrahima who was anticipating a pull out. The two goals took the fire off from the Guineans but the Eaglets was not through yet. 

Bulbwa was again the architect of the third goal when he exchanged passes with Success, who finally gave Kelechi Iheanacho the last ball to tap into the net in the 40th minute. The Eaglets continued with its excellent ball distribution in the second half and could have scored more than it did but for some glaring misses.  

The Guineans were reduced to 10 players after Keita Malick was shown the red card after a rough tackle on Chidera Eze. The last goal did not come until the stroke of regulation time when two second half substitutes, Chidera Eze and Musa Yahaya worked their way into the box with the ball to Success who delivered an inch-perfect pass to Yahaya for the final goal.

“We thank Almighty Allah for this win,” Eaglets Head coach, Manu Garba said afterwards. “Though we made few mistakes but the most important thing today is that we have shown what we are capable of doing any time.

“We won’t rest on our oars until we secure our qualification ticket to the Under-17 tournament in Morocco,” he added.

Meanwhile, the head of the Nigerian delegation to Conakry, Nigeria Football Federation's (NFF) Muazu Suleiman and Emmanuel Ikpeme, Director, Technical at the Glass House has saluted the wonderful performance of the Eaglets on Sunday.  

“No matter what anybody would say, you can’t take away the quality in this team and they have proved it once again,” stated a visibly happy Alhaji Suleiman who was also the team’s leader of delegation when they defeated Niger 4-1 in Niamey.  

“This is about the only team in Nigeria today that anybody that watches them would agree that they are very good, so I was not surprised about their excellent performance.

“Sometimes, we are playing well and we are getting the results and we really have to thank Almighty God.  

“I think the only difficult game for them so far was the 3-0 win against Guinea in Calabar because of the pressure of the Super Eagles that had beaten Liberia 6-1 a day earlier but they have shown today how good they are happy and we are so happy with this great performance.”

Speaking in the same vein, Ikpeme, noted that team has again demonstrated its strength as a quality team that can beat any other team anywhere. He added that the 4-0 margin win against Guinea is another indication that Nigerian football on the right course.

“I’m so happy with your performance today because of the way you have played and beat Guinea right here on their home ground,” he said.

“You won convincingly today but the artistry that you guys displayed today has given us confidence that the future of Nigerian football is bright indeed if you can keep your heads.