Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets defeated host nation Tanzania 5-4 in a thrilling opening game at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam on Sunday, Completesports.com reports
Olatomi Olaniyan gave Nigeria the lead in the 20th minute, firing the ball past Tanzania goalkeeper Abdallah Yahya.
The hosts however responded immediately grabbing the equaliser through John Edmund.
The Golden Eaglets took the lead for the second time in the game in the 30th minute courtesy of a fine effort by Wisdom Ubani.
Ubani controlled the ball expertly, beat his man and squeezed the ball beyond the goalkeeper.
Akinkunmi Amoo made it three for Nigeria eight minutes before the break.
Amoo dribbled the on rushing Yahya before slotting the ball into the net.
The hosts came alive after the break and halved the deficit in the 51st minute through Kelvin John.
The Serengeti Boys equalised two minutes before the hour mark with Suleman Shaibu putting the ball into his own net.
Oscar Milambo’s lads took the lead for the first time in the game when Edmund tucked home a penalty on the hour mark.
The Golden Eaglets looked jolted by the Tanzanians’ fast start to the second half but found their way back to win the contest.
Ubani equalised for the two – time champions from a well struck free-kick in the 72th minute.
Substitute Ibraheem Jabaar scored the winning goal for Nigeria 11 minutes from time.
The Eaglets will tackle Angola in their next game on Wednesday at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam.
By Adeboye Amosu
23 Comments
Nice boys.
Brilliant forward line that needs to calm their blood… the defence and Goalkeeping department needs a lot of work to do before the World Cup. Oakfield and go and lick your wounds who doesn’t like good attacking football should not watch this tournament as I prefer a Pep to a Mou
*Oakfield and Co
Deadly in attack, porous in midfield, terrible in defence. A lot of work still needs to be done. Throw away a 3goal lead against a good side, you’ll get terribly punished.
Lol…. Ewu… Your aboki garuba got saved by mother luck, he for hear am wella from NFF…
Won’t go into words with you no more you’re very disrespectful.
Lol… Just testing the waters…. One love bro…. Lol
Complete Sports please give a better match report.
Superb! Wonderful kids! If these are our future Eagles,then we can all go to bed with a smile!
If you didn’t watch the game, please go and do so!
Superb, superb goals galore.
Congratulations Super Golden Eaglets for this victory against the ref’s odds of 2 late penalties
Yes the penalties was from no mans land and the Goalie is not good but before the World Cup this will be fixed.
We can go on to blame the boys for conceding 4 goals from initially been 3 goals up. Their characted and mentality must however be commended for the following reasons:
-Strong home team support (nobody cheered Nigeria at all. Even our goals).
-The Tanzania’s second penalty was dubious.
-After losing their 3 goals (4-3), they equalized and eventually won the clash (4-5).
I told you guys that our boys are blessed and that they will prevail when it matters most.
Please, Is this Nigeria New Jersey? the new sets of jersey we ‘ve been using since last year are breakthrough on their own please don’t revert back to these mediocre shirts.
You made me laugh.
Spirited fightback from the GoldenEaglets. I wouldn’t blame them for conceding much goals cuz the Captain Tijani said before the game that “They know nothing about the Tanzanian team and vice versa”. So they might not know the right plan for them but due to their Very good form. Also, someone on this forum stated before the match that “Garba’s team are always good in attack and poor in defence” which is clearly evident in this match. So I’ll urge the Coach to please work on the Defense before the next game. I see them winning the Trophy if they can adjust the hitch in their defense line and work more on the mode at which they supply balls to the deadly attackers upfront. Congrats once more
Don’t worry Nigerian teams gets better in competitions game after game.
Against Angola the team will play better with little errors.Besides like you rightly said,they are in a better position now having seen the the other teams play.
Congratulations Eaglets. I did not watch the match but saw the highlights on YouTube just now. Incredible performance from our boys.
For sure the coach will fixed some lapses in the team.
My takes on Manu Garba and his assistant coach Ugbade including coach Amunike.
These are the best coaches Nigeria can produced at the moment and I am asking myself why NFF refused to send these three coaches abroad for more enlightenment?
I said it not quite long on this forum that the problem of the African coaches is ego. They are seeing themselves as a big boss instead of father to their players.
Foreign coaches will treat their players with respect and they will never be bossy to their players so that they can achieve their goals.
This is what the white coaches have that African coaches doesn’t have.
NFF have to put superiority aside and treat our indigenous coaches like foriegn managers.
Our indigenous coaches should be respected always. We don’t value what we have.
Oyinbo do not have respect for Africans.
Imagine what the NFF did to coach Siasia, that said it all. How long does it take these two coaches to build this team and I’m pretty sure in few months to come, Eaglets would have a balanced team.
Some of us maybe saying that these three coaches I named above are not good enough to handle the Super Eagles, this is where the education and exposure comes in. NFF needs to invest more in our sports.
I’m so happy that the current NFF board members are doing a great job. God bless you NFF. I can say it confidently that these three coaches will build us a strong team less than to years because we have players both in the Country and abroad.
I really moved with what I saw in this match. If you haven’t watched the video on YouTube please do so my people. I saw passion, never say die attitude, winning mentality in this team and these coaches are technically and tactically sound but the only thing that is lacking in them terms of coaching is their attitude. African coaches needs to be like a father to their players but not like a coach to their players.
Having these three coaches for 2022 world cup would be super.
But the only thing about our local coaches is corruption which is manageable because if there is rule and regulation from NFF, they will behave themselves although, some of the white coaches are corrupt too.
We are reaching the level of having our indigenous coaches as our national team managers. All the NFF needed is a structure that will be used to carry out this achievement.
I do not hate foreign coach as long as they are given us what it takes, I’m happy. God bless Nigeria!!!
Super eagles stars on fire;
Victor Osimhen
Samuel Chukwueze
Henry Onyekuru
All scored for their teams on Sunday 14th April
Other Nigeria stars scored too; David Okereke, Frank Onyeka, Chinedu Obasi, Ohi Omoijuanfo, Leke James, Kehinde Fatai, et al.
Keep it up guys; more Grace!
Congrats to the Golden Eaglets. I like Manu Garba as a coach , and his style of attacking and total football , infact he is my favorite coach.However, as i pointed out earlier in my post before the competition, his teams seems to have problems in the defence. It was evident in 2013 when he won the world cup with a fantastic team comprises of Iheanacho, Awoniyi, success and co; goalkeeper Dele Alampasu was in a fine form and that was the savior or else we would have conceeded more goals, secondly, at that level (U-17), players or opponents lacked scoring experience, but you when you get to U-21 level, the players are now more experience and can punish you for such lapses, and that is why he did not perform well at the U-21 tournament in 2015 despite have almost the same players form U-17. My point is that he need to work on the defence as much as he did with the attack and is called a balance team; if he can do that , he will be the best coach from Nigeria. Once again congratulations to our darling team for beating the host and is not easy regardless.
Good one from the golden eaglets. As I watched this match I saw a bunch of talented and hungry to play boys. There’s Hope for Nigerian football. Congratulations eaglets and the coaching crew you guys are doing Great job. Good luck.
That number 13 of the golden eaglet Amoo reminds me of Messi they both have similarities the way they play.That lad is a superstar in the making,the ease he slices through defenders,passes,vision and intelligence.I was awed by this awesome little mini Messi he sure is the next big thing of Nigerian and world football.
I do give Manu Garba and his crew the credit for unearthing such a huge talent.Nigeria is blessed to have such a kid star,the future is definitely bright.He alongside Wisdom Ubani and left footed number 7 Olusegun is a joy to watch we can all see why Lateef Omitiji was dropped from this team.
I’m looking forward to another great encounter against Angola on wednesday.Both teams needs a win to sail through to the knockout stages and also seal a place to Brazil for the biennial global tournament.
those goals were something else.Well,three of our boys in the defense line were dropped due to MRI scan and these guys are our major staters.Even the goal keeper isn’t our first choice.Greater days ahead for this boys…Buh,dat free kick and the wining goal ehn?????
can’t wait to watch Vs Angola tomorrow