Niger hold Eagles to 0-0 draw

Nigeria were on Wednesday held to a 0-0 draw by Niger in a friendly match to prepare both sides for 2013 Nations Cup qualifiers in September.

The entertaining encounter played at the 50,000-capacity Stade General Seyni Kountche in Niamey, which was half-filled, saw both sides give their best with Nigeria having the edge in a match that saw three yellow cards to the visitors and one to the hosts.

The Nigerian culprits were Solomon Kwambe, Solomon Jabason and Sani Sanusi while Niger hitman Kalilou Dawouda was also booked for rough play.

Niger started the better side when after only five minutes Boubacar Talatou tried to chip past goalkeeper and skipper Chigozie Agbim.

The Warri Wolves man slipped, picked himself up and went for the save, which resulted in him hitting his shoulder against the woodwork.

The Nigerian bench looked worried, but after the medics attended to him, he was back to his feet but needed additional attention after the game.

Isoufou Boubacar, Sidibe Modibo and Mohammed Soumaila, also had their tries at the Nigerian goal in the first quarter, but Azubuike Eguweke, Papa Idris and Juwon Oshaniwa held strong.

Egwueke gave his bench another scare in the 20th minute when he was stretchered off after hitting the ground while attempting a clearance, but he was again back after treatment.

From then on it was Nigeria all the way with Uche Kalu’s freee kick blocked by Nigerien defenders in the 21st minute for one of the nine corner kicks played by the Eagles.

Kalu had other chances in the 27th and 35th minutes but they were all wasted, before Ejike Uzoenyi’s blistering run from the right fell to Mba, who also blasted wide.

In the second half, stand-in coach for Niger, Frederic Acosta, made six changes in the first 20 minutes of the half but nothing changed as Nigeria continued to dictate the pace of the game but not before Agbim was again called to duty by dangerman Dawouda, whose chip was going into the net before the big Nigerian palmed clear for a corner.

Keshi also made changes bringing in Umar Zango for a tired Idris, Kwambe was pulled out for Ugonna, Philip Asuquo for Sunday Mba, Sibi Gwar for Ejike Uzoenyi and Sani Sanusi for Uche Kalu.

As usual, Asuquo seized the midfield from the hosts but chances that fell to Sani, Reuben and Gwar were wasted as the referee blew the final whistle after five minutes of added time for the home side to heave a sigh of relief.

Keshi said after the match that it was a game his wards would have won but nevertheless he was impressed with the attitude of the players who kept their concentration throughout the encounter.

“It’s a good warm-up for the Liberia game and we picked a good result in the encounter because we did not play with the compliments of our Europe-based stars,” Keshi said.

Niger, on the other hand, featured as many as eight foreign-based professionals.

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