BY Victor Akhidenor
The national U-23 side, the Dream Team, qualified for the All-Africa Games scheduled for Congo-Brazzaville after overcoming Zambia 2-1 in Lusaka.
Two goals from Taiwo Awoniyi, who was drafted into the team from the Flying Eagles, earned Nigeria a 2-1 aggregate win over the Zambians in a keenly contested match.
It was a winner-takes-all-encounter after the first leg ended 0-0 at the Abuja National Stadium on Sunday, March 22. And barely four minutes into the match had the Samson Siasia- tutored team showed their intention of winning it.
Godwin Saviour went past two defenders, but his shot was saved by the goalkeeper.
The hosts had a chance of the own 15 minutes later, but the woodwork came to the rescue of the Dream Team with goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel stranded.
In the 34th minutes, home fans at the National Heroes Stadium wore the faces of losers after an attack from the visitors led to the opening goal.
Awoniyi benefitted from a foray at the opponent’s defence to score his first goal for the U-23 team.
It would have been two for the visitors few minutes to the break, but a double save from the Zambia keeper denied the Dream Team.
At the resumption of the second half, Saviour – the tormentor-in-chief of the Zambians – wasted a golden chance to punish the hosts for slack defending shooting wide from close range.
After being unable to take control of the midfield, Zambia resorted to the use of long balls to rattle Nigeria’s defence. However, captain Erhun Obanor and team-mates dealt with the challenge commendably.
But in the 78th minute, they couldn’t stop Shadrick Malambo to level the score line to the delight of their fans.
A 1-1 draw would have been enough for the Dream Team to qualify on away-goal-rule, but they didn’t settle for that as Awoniyi scored a second three minutes to the end of the match.
The Dream Team have now joined the Super Falcons to book a play in the AAG billed for September 3rd to 18th.
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