Nations Cup: How Nigeria beat Rwanda

Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Saturday scored twice in the 2013 African Cup of Nations return leg qualifier against the Amavubi of Rwanda at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar.

The result earned the Eagles, who played a barren draw with Rwanda in the first leg in Kigali, a ticket to the next and final round of the qualifiers, while the Amavubi are out of the tournament.

Ikechukwu Uche netted the opening goal in the 7th minute in a goal mouth scramble, following a volley which resulted from a corner kick from the right flank.

The Eagles which seemed more coordinated compared to their World Cup qualifier two weeks ago, particularly in the mid field, lost many scoring chances. Their misses did not impress the home crowd.

The Nigerian side however found the net for the second time in the 75th minute when Ahmed Musa, wearing jersey number 17 utilised a diagonal pass by beating two defenders and cannoned a shot from outside the 18 yard box, which beat the lanky goalkeeper of Rwanda.

Several other efforts at goal became fruitless as the Rwandans, determined to find the Eagles net, became more aggressive. But all their attempts at the Nigerian goal did not yield any result.

The Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdulahi, Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar and Cross River State governor, Senator Liyel Imoke watched the match.

Coach Stephen Keshi said after the match that the team was happy winning a crucial Africa Cup of Nations match against Rwanda.

Keshi expressed the team’s happiness while addressing newsmen at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar, on Saturday after the team beat Rwanda by 2-0 in the qualifying match.

‘’The most important thing is that we won the match and the team has qualified for the next stage of the tournament.’’

On the coordinated play by his team in the dying minutes of the second half, Keshi said the players were more interested in the score line.

‘’ It is not important for now. We will enjoy the victory, celebrate our qualification and begin to think of working on the mistakes.’’

Rwandan Serbian born manager, Milutin Sredojevic, said his players failed to utilise three scoring chances that came their way.

“We were supposed to connect these chances but unfortunately we did not.We will rebuild the team and look forward to future tournaments.’’

Sredojevic said the future of Rwandan football was bright because five under-20 players made the team that lost to the Eagles.

“We came with a crop of players who could not withstand the pressure of a team like Nigeria.We played a very courageous game against the Super Eagles; a good, tough team,” he said.