Top executive members of the Nigeria Football Federation, led by their President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, were seen dancing and clapping hands with joy after the end of the Super Eagles 1-0 victory game against host, Harambee Stars, in the 2014 World Cup match that was decided at the Kasarani Stadium, Kenya on Wednesday.
Feelers from Kenya revealed that the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye; the Nigerian Ambassador to Kenya, Solomon Akintola Kayode Oyateru; Maigari; and the Secretary General of the NFF, Barrister Musa Amadu, among other football personalities that watched the explosive encounter went wild with jubilation at the end of the match.
The NFF Scribe told The Eagle Online after the match that the victory has brightened Nigeria’s chances of qualifying from the group to the final stage of the qualifying series.
Amadu told The Eagle Online: “I am happy as a Nigerian and the Nigeria Football Federation is happy that we won this match because the three points at stake is very vital to our qualification from this Group F.
“In fact we should have won this match with more goals scored if not for several misses from the Eagles attackers.”
CSKA Moscow right wing attacker, Ahmed Musa, scored Nigeria’s lone goal in the 81st minute, which was enough to fetch Nigeria the victory and three points at stake in the match.
Besides Musa, Brown Ideye also troubled the Kenyan defence while the partnership of Mikel Obi, Onazi Ogenyi and Sunday Mba was able to neutralize whatever the Victor Wanyama-led midfield had in stock for the Nigerian team.
The Eagles dominated the match more in the first half while they tried to curtail the onslaught of the Kenyans in the last quarter of the second half and had a good game overall in the match.
Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi, made three vital substitutions in the match, which saw John Ogu replacing tired Sunday Mba in the 55th minute of the match while Anthony Ujah replaced Brown Ideye in the 68th minute.
The introduction of Ujah brought bite into the attack of the Nigerian team.
The FC Koln striker was a torn in the flesh of the Kenyan defence, with his mesmerizing display upfront that gave the Harambee Stars defenders a sleepless afternoon.
Keshi also introduced gritty midfielder, Fegor Ogude, to replace the goal scorer in the 90th minute of the match in order to stabilize the midfield and defence of the Nigerian team.
This made the Ivorian referee increased the two minute added time to five minutes but the Nigerian defence and midfield prevented any damages from the Kenyan team.
The win now takes Nigeria back to the top of Group F with eight points while Malawi are second on six after battling to a 0-0 draw with Namibia in a match played in Blantyre earlier on Wednesday.
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