Angola Hold Eagles In Abuja

Honours were evenly shared Wednesday evening at the National Stadium, in Abuja , when Nations Cup bound Pelanca Negras of Angola , held a fully home-based Super Eagles of Nigeria to a scoreless draw.

It was Coach Stephen Keshi first competitive game in charge, since taking over about two months ago and after barely three weeks of camping the home lads in preparation for the all-important 2013 Nations Cup qualifier against the Wasps of Rwanda in Kigali .

The game started on a rather tense note with the visiting team dictating the early part of the game. As expected, dangermen, Manucho spotting number 9 jersey and Flavio, in jersey 16, led the assault against the Eagles which caused Coach Keshi to rise to his feet after barely five minutes of kick-off.

The blitz fizzled out as quick as it came as the trio of Sunday Mba, Ossai Uche and Obinna Nwachuckwu seized the initiative from the midfield from the Angolans. Petit Rangers International left wing star, Ejike Ozoenyi, was the star of the game as his dazzling run down the left flank, got fans asking for more.

Ossai Uche missed a clear chance in the 12 minutes, Mba followed suit in the 34th and Obinna blasted away in the 42nd. By now it was obvious who the better side was.

The half ended goalless.

Things didn’t turn better for both sides in the second, but the home side looked the more enterprising, as Angola looked like a side that did not want to lose a game before the start of hostilities in the Nations Cup.

Coach Vidigal, was forced to pull out Manucho when he was arrested by the Nigerian centre back duo of Papa Idris and Azubuike Egwueke. While striker Uche Kalu who stepped in for Kabir Umar and Barnabas Imenger, missed glaring chances in the closing stages of the entertaining encounter watched by close to 10, 000 Nigerians soccer fans. To most soccer fans, it was a fair result as they hailed Keshi and his crew for a job well done under three weeks.