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| Godfrey Oboabona : Image Courtesy |
Namibia Vs Nigeria: Namibia’s Brave Warriors drew 1-1 against African champions, Nigeria
in a feisty 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying game in Windhoek on
Wednesday.
Missing a slew of first-team players through suspension, illness and
injury, Namibia struggled early to cope with the pace and power of the
West Africans and were almost behind as early as the first minute when
Ahmed Musa failed to hit the target from five yards.
Nigeria continued to dominate but found clear cut opportunities
difficult to come by. The Namibians meanwhile continued to threaten on
the break with little to show for their efforts as the first half ended
goalless.
The second half followed a similar pattern with the Nigerians
controlling the play without really threatening in the final third.
Namibia were growing in confidence and on 78 minutes, the Brave
Warriors took an unlikely lead when Deon Kavendji got on the end of a
cross by Petrus Shitembi and diverted a sweetly-struck left footed
volley past a shocked Vincent Enyeama.
As expected, Nigeria poured forward in search of an equaliser and
found it through an unlikely source, seven minutes from the end.
Nnamdi Oduamadi won a free kick at the edge of the Namibia box and
up stepped Godfrey Oboabona who powered home an unstoppable free kick
from 20 yards.
Nigeria pressed for a winner but the Brave Warriors hung on for an unlikely and famous point.
It was a great result for the Namibians who had lost their coach,
Roger Palmgren a few days to the game. The Swede stepped down on Sunday
claiming he and his family received threats.
For Nigeria, they will be left to ponder what might have been as
they failed to clinch the win that would have seen them book a place in
the playoffs with one round of games still to play.
Nigeria still lead Group F with nine points from five matches, two
points more than second-placed Namibia who they host in September.....Adapted from SuperSports.com