Emenike scores winner in Nigeria's friendly

The Super Eagles continued its build-up for
the AFCON 2013 Nations Cup in South
Africa later this month with an amazing
display of attacking football to overwhelm
Dutch side, Sparta Rotterdam 1-0, in Faro,
Portugal on Saturday afternoon.
The game which was played at the Browns
Sports and Leisure Club, where the Eagles
are presently camped for the SA 2013
championship started on a cautious note
for both sides, but it was the Eagles which
featured Skipper Joseph Yobo pairing
youthful Kenneth Omeruo, who was
impressive in the heart of the defence, that
seized the initiative just five minutes into
the encounter.
A combination of Efe Ambrose and Ahmed
Musa found Nosa Igiebor at the edge of the
box, but he blasted wide. In the 10
th minute, Mikel Obi combined beautifully
with Igiebor to free Emenike, but his shot
was again wasted. Mikel again did a
yeoman’s job in the 14th minute to send
Emenike clear and he promptly tucked the
ball into the net but Dutch referee for the
game Wim Bronsvoort ruled it offside.
From then on, it was one way traffic as the
Eagles seized control of the game but
Igiebor, Moses, Emenike and Musa
somehow managed not to score and the
half thus ended goalless, to the chagrin of
Stephen Keshi, who thought his wards
should have at least been two goals up by
then.
The Eagles continued from where they
stopped in the second stanza and in the
55thminute, Ambrose Efe combined
beautifully with Musa, who dribbled his
way into the vital area before laying the ball
for bulky Emenike to riffle home, for what
turned out the only goal of the encounter.
After the goal Keshi made eight changes to
his team with Ejike Uzoenyi coming in for
Victor Moses, Gabriel Reuben for Mikel, Ike
Uche for Emenike, Sunday Mba for Nosa
Igiebor, Brown Ideye for Musa, Ogenyi
Onazi for Yobo, Nwankwo Obiorah for
Ogude Fegor and goalkeeper Chigozie
Agbim for Vincent Enyeama.
The Dutch side did threaten a couple of
times through dangerman, Donovan
Deekman spotting number 11 jersey, but it
was dealt with by Enyeama and later by
Agbim. Infact, they took only one straight
shot at goal that was easily picked up by
Enyeama at the start of the second half.
The Eagles continued their dominant play
even with the changes but Ideye, Uche,
Reuben and Mba failed to increase the
tally, to keep the scoreline at only 1-0, after
90minutes.