Nigeria: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory Against Zambia

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 25, 2013

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One of the few things crueller than seeing a victory derailed by a late, late equaliser is seeing it happen twice in five days. The unfortunate Super Eagles of Stephen Keshi have experienced just that in these early stages of the Cup of Nations.

Whilst what looked like a comfortable three points against Burkina Faso were thrown away after a needless Efe Ambrose red card and a late defensive capitulation, so, against Zambia, a winning position and a perceived safe passage to the knockout stages were thrown away in a late collapse.

This time it was Ogenyi Onazi who was the culprit as Nigeria threw away a one-nil victory to allow Zambia a route back into the match, and perhaps into the Cup of Nations.

The young Lazio midfielder was harshly adjudged to have tackled Emmanuel Mayuka in the box. Kennedy Mweene, a keeper who seemingly can’t help making iconic Afcon moments, stepped up, as calm as ever a guardian in this position could be, and fired the ball past Vincent Enyeama—keeping Zambia’s Afcon alive.

After only managing draws in their first Group C matches, two of the competition’s favourites clashed Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit knowing that a win was almost imperative to their sustained participation in this tournament. The tension was palpable in the early stages, with both sides cautious to avoid going behind, a position of weakness that could be decisive. Failure to secure a victory would only increase the immense pressure ahead of their final group game.

The opening 20 minutes were characterised by an absence of quality, and a tendency for long balls from both sets of players.

With the hard, sandy pitch more conducive to building sand castles than slick, silky passing play, this seemed like the wisest option—but the consequence was a lot of aimless punts that led nowhere.

One smart Zambian move carved out a neat chance for Rainford Kalaba—who im...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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