L-R – Goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, NSC Chairman Shehu Dikko, Captain, Moses Simon and the NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, with the Unity Cup Tournament trophy on Saturday.
By Dianabasi Effiong
The Super Eagles have won an entertaining Unity Cup Tournament final match following a penalty shootout against Jamaica in West London on Saturday.
A terrific atmosphere of singing, dancing, and feasting provided a fitting background to a game that swung from end to end at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium.
Nigeria scored first and then conceded, scored again, and conceded a second time before a penalty shootout was called to separate the teams.
It was exactly 21 years to the day the Super Eagles had beaten the same Reggae Boyz in more commanding fashion – two goals to nothing courtesy strikes by John Utaka and Bartholomew Ogbeche at The Valley, home ground of Charlton Athletic FC.
On that day, Utaka, in the same white top and short, had finished with aplomb to put the Eagles ahead, similar to the way he had latched on to a long pass by Nwankwo Kanu to drill the sword into Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia months earlier, ending the campaign of the Cup holders.
In the semi-finals played on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jamaica defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-2 with a last-gasp penalty.
Kasey Palmer, Rumarn Burrell, and Richard King were the scorers on Tuesday.
Super Eagles in a group photo before the match.
On Wednesday, Cyriel Dessers and Semi Ajayi were on song for the Super Eagles.
On Saturday, Cyriel Dessers, whose composed finish to put the Eagles ahead against Ghana in the semi-final was still the talk of the global football environment, floated the ball skillfully into the box for Moses Simon to jab past Shaquan Davis in the 9th minute.
Unruffled, the Reggae Boyz, coaxed on by their supporters who constituted two-thirds of the crowd, equalised three minutes later when Rumarn Burrell darted past Sodiq Ismaila on the right and squared for Kaheim Dixon to drive past Stanley Nwabali.
Dessers, ever vibrant, came close in the 23rd minute only for Davis to hold the ball tight and prevent any damage.
Nigeria began the second half the way they did the first, with the ebullient Samuel Chukwueze ghosting past several defenders and slotting past Davis into the left corner in the 53rd minute.
Again, the Boyz were unfazed. Instead, they regrouped, flowed past the Nigeria rearguard from the right again and Jonathan Russell was on hand to finish with a flourish.
In the end, a penalty shootout was needed, and Kelechi Iheanacho, Simon Moses, Tolu Arokodare, Bruno Onyemaechi, and Christantus Uche scored their kicks while Jamaica missed their fourth kick.
.
