Nigeria in bright start, beats South Africa 2-0

ABUJA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Super Eagles, the Nigerian national football team, on Sunday at the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium, began their march to the 2010 World Cup and Africa Nations Cup with an impressive 2-0 victory over South Africa visitors in its first match of the qualifying series.

Ikechukwu Uche gave the mammoth crowd at the stadium hope of a bright afternoon for the Eagles in the 10th minute when he rose above the static Bafana defense to nod beyond a hapless Rowen Fernandez off John Utaka's cross from the right flank. The goal, coming so early in the game, gave the Nigerians the impetus to scavenge for more goals against the South Africans, who seemed scared of moving out of their side of the pitch.

One of the players who bore the brunt for Eagles' timid performance at the Ghana 2008 Nations Cup, Obinna Nwaneri, gave Nigerians another cause to cheer just before the first half ended with another headed goal to make scores 2-0. The South Africans, who had lost all competitive matches against Nigeria, began the game defensively, content with keeping the Eagles at bay.

Playing with five defenders and a choked midfield, the Bafana Bafana hoped to frustrate the fluid movement of the Eagles. Butthat strategy did not help them, as the Eagles swooped on them, with Utaka and Kalu Uche fashioning out ammunitions for strikers Ikechukwu Uche and Yakubu Aiyegbeni. With the home fans urging them on, the Eagles seized the game by the neck, but for poor marksmanship, which denied Nigeria more goals despite dominatingthe game.

Aiyegbeni had an opportunity to put his name in the scorers' sheet early in the second half, but he wasted the chances that came his way till coach Amodu Shaibu pulled him out. The introduction of Kanu Nwankwo, Seyi Olofinjana and Victor Anichebe added more fillip to the Nigerian side, but the South Africans held on to end the game with only a 0-2 deficit.