Namibia, but it is not a result that guarantees their progression from
their World Cup Qualifying Group
Godfrey Oboabona of Nigeria The Super Eagles of Nigeria limped
towardsBrazil next summer with an underwhelming draw away against
Namibia. After the Brave Warriors had surprisingly taken the lead at
the Sam Nujoma Stadium, through Deon Kavendji, the Super Eagles
responded through an unlikely hero—Godfrey Oboabona securing a point
on 83 minutes.
With Malawi and Kenya having shared the points earlier in the day, a
win for Nigeria would have guaranteed their progression from Group F,
and ensuredtheir safe passage into the CAF play-off round. Instead,
they were unable to beat a side ranked 125 th in the world, and will
now need to avoid defeat against the Flames in Calabar inorder to
advance.
During the opening stages, the visitors looked composed and confident.
They kept the ball well, dominated possession, and gently began to
turn the screw on their Namibian hosts, who looked, at the time, like
veritable prey for Africa's champions.
In the opening stages of the contest, Koln forward Anthony
Ujah—preferred to both Ideye Brown and Joseph Akpala—burst through on
goal, only tobe bundled to the ground by a Namibian defender. After a
period of hesitation the referee, clearly keen to shirk the decision,
opted against carding the Brave Warrior and allowed the play to
continue from the free kick.
Reduced to ten men at this point, the home side would surely have
failed to contain the Super Eagles.
As the first half wore on, Keshi's men sought the goal that would hand
them near-complete control in the contest. Ujah was the most likely to
break the deadlock, but every time the forward made himself some
space, or found a moment of repose beyond the Namibian defence, he
lost his nerve; a whole flurry of shots were sent skywards or into the
arms of Virgil Vries in the home goal.
It became achingly apparent, that despite dominating possession,
Nigerialacked both the cohesion among their forwards and the
creativity and vision in the middle of the park to genuinely trouble
their southeast African rivals.
Ahmed Musa, with his raw pace and direct running, was a threat, but
behind him, John Obi Mikel and Ogenyi Onazi were predominantly
shackled by their opposite numbers.
As Nigeria's profligacy continued, their hosts began to grow in
confidence, andinstigated several more forays forward when the
opportunities arose. It was from one of these that the opening goal
sprang, Kavandji on hand to sumptuously volley the ball past the
stranded Vincent Enyeama, into the goalkeeper's bottom left corner.
While in the short term, the goal demonstrated Nigeria's mortality and
their vulnerability to the searching counter attack, in the long term
it threw their World Cup progression intodoubt. The team needed to
demonstrate their capabilities in the closing ten minutes.
Fortunately, they did just that. As the clock ticked down the side
seemingly became aware of the obligations pressed upon them, and
increased theirefforts in search of a goal.
Eventually it came from an unexpected source, centre-back Godfrey
Oboabona stepped up to take a freekick from the edge of the box.
Seemingly an unlikely candidate for such a precious opportunity, the
defender stepped up, and looking more like an Okocha than a Yobo, he
sent a delightful finish into the Namibian net.
As the final minutes drifted away, it was the Super Eagles that looked
the more likely to find a winner. Imbued by their equaliser, they
pushed forward and pegged back the hosts, but to no avail. Sunday Mba
was replaced by Fegor Ogude late on, and the Nigerian sheaded home
with a point.
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