| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Tillamawnin |
Posted - May 19 2002 : 09:35:51 AM
Nigeria 1 Jamaica 0: Nigeria win with shadow team
Brian Glanville at Loftus Road
AS AN indication of what awaits England when they meet Nigeria in the World Cup, yesterday’s match was of little use or significance. The fourth the Nigerians have played in the British Isles, and the second at the Queens Park Rangers’ stadium, it was one in which you might say Nigeria masked their true intentions.
Two days earlier, they had surprisingly and impressively beaten the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, just as they had previously won in Scotland. On their first appearance at Shepherd’s Bush, a team even more below strength than we saw yesterday had drawn 1-1 with Paraguay.
Only five of the side which had won in Dublin were on show. The experienced and influential playmaker, Jay-Jay Okocha, was not among them, although that still more experienced performer, the centre-back Taribo West, was. He has lost none of his mobility and authority.
You could not say quite the same for his partner in central defence, Eric Efiofor, who nearly cost his team a goal when, after 29 minutes, he passed back wide of his keeper, Ike Shorunmu. Shorunmu raced back to kick the ball away, but it looked as if it had crossed the line.
Considering that they had lost 5-0 in Washington to the United States only last Wednesday, and that most of their players had had to cross the Atlantic to figure in this game, the stamina and energy of the Jamaicans was remarkable.
When, after repeated attacks on their goal in the opening five minutes of the second half, they fell behind, it looked as if the Nigerians, fast, skilled, gifted but not excessively organised, might overrun them.
Not a bit of it. It was Nigeria who seemed to run out of steam and Jamaica who took up the running, even if, with all their territorial advantage, they made few clear-cut chances.
The best, perhaps, occurred on 64 minutes when the energetic substitute, Ricardo Fuller, dashed in from the right for a fast low cross which cried out to be converted. One remembers, too, on 21 minutes, a gloriously deft piece of control by Omar Daley, crowned by a shot which whistled just over the bar.
At the start of the second half, the lively teenager, Bartholomew Ogbeche, tested the Jamaican goalkeeper Aaron Lawrence, who capably held his low drive. A few minutes later, Lawrence deflected a shot for a corner. Inadequately cleared, it led to another deflected effort which was converted by the 23-year-old Lokomotiv Moscow attacker, James Obiorah.
Nigeria: Shorunmu (Enyegm, h-t), Sodje, West, Efiofor, Udeze, Ikedia, Obiorah, Christopher, Aiyegbeni, Ogbeche, Ugali
Jamaica: A Lawrence, F Davis, C Davis, McDonald, Scarlett, Daley (McAnuff 55min), J Lawrence, Dixon, Whitmore, Lisbie (Langley 55min), Burton (Fuller 38min)
Scorer: Nigeria: Obiorah 48
Referee: A D’Urso
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Live simply so that others may simply live.
Mohandas K. Gandhi |
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