DUBAI // Clad in green and white, the majority of the 10,000-strong crowd that filled Rashid Stadium to watch Nigeria take on Iraq on Friday night sang loud, sang proud and made clear their desires. “All we are saying … is give us more goals”, they crooned throughout their Group F match, to the tune of John Lennon’s Give Peace a Chance.
And the Africans, eager to please, set about doing exactly that.
Within four minutes of kick-off, Nigeria had scored twice and hit the post as their aggressive attacking style left Iraq chasing shadows in a 5-0 loss. Chidiebere Nwakali, the impressive defensive midfielder, hit the upright with the first shot of the game and when the ball rebounded to Musa Yahaya, he was tripped by Mohammed Salam.
Musa Muhammed, the captain, sent Iraqi goalkeeper Hayder Mohammed the wrong way from the penalty spot. From the restart, Iraq’s poor start was compounded as Kelechi Iheanacho stole the ball in midfield and fed Muhammed out on the right. After reaching the byline, the Nigeria captain played a clever cut-back and Nwakali fired in his country’s second.
“In the first 45 minutes, we played at such an intense level,” said Manu Garba, the Nigerian coach. “The boys gave their best in terms of the physicality of the game, because Iraq are not a bad team. They will be very strong in two years time at Under 20 level.”
On Friday though, the Iraqis were struggling all over the pitch and coach Muwafaq Adlool waited until Yahaya had added Nigeria’s third before he made a tactical switch, with Mustafa Mohammed making way for the more defensive-minded Yasir Ammar.
“The spectators saw a good game by both teams,” Adlool said. “We conceded two goals in the first few minutes and this complicated our mission. We wanted to do better, but to concede so early gave our young players much disappointment.
“We played well though against a team that has won this World Cup three times, so we take experience from this.”
A quick Nigerian counterattack just before half time ended any hopes of an Iraqi comeback. Taiwo Awoniyi forced Mohammed to concede a corner and when the Iraqi goalkeeper spilled the crossing pass, Yahaya volleyed home.
Nigeria waited until the final minute before adding a fifth through the substitute Chigozi Obasi, whose long-range effort left Mohammed helpless.
“My team has not played any friendly matches for about a month ahead of this tournament, so as the competition progresses, we can only get better,” said Garba, who rated his team’s performance as simply “above average”.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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