Over 10,000 fans on Saturday crammed into the newly build
Gokana Central on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, the River State capital to
watch a thrilling friendly game between the Super Eagles currently preparing
for CHAN 2014 tournament in South Africa and Amateur Division One League side,
Gokana United. The game ended 1-1.
The match which was the first to be played in the stadium,
was used to inaugurate the new stadium and lived up to its billing, despite the
rather bumpy turf, which the Local Government Chairman, Hon Demua Ledee Demua
promised to improve upon.
Among dignitaries that watched the game at the stadium
described by its owners as the first ultra-modern stadium to be built by a
local government in Nigeria, were Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon Rotimi Chibuike
Amaechi, former Green Eagles skipper, Chief Olusegun Odegbami, who represented
NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, former Super Eagles skipper, Austin
Eguavoen, former African Footballer of the Year, Victor Ikpeba, SWAN National
President, Seidu Abubakar, Senator Magnus Abe and several top government
officials from Rivers State.
In the game proper, the Eagles struggled to hold their own
because of the nature of the new pitch, forcing Governor Amaechi and Chief
Odegbami, to advise the local government leadership to improve on the state of
the pitch during half time speeches.
Barnabas Imenger got the Eagles only goal after a swift
exchange between Rabiu Ali, Ejike Uzoenyi and Abubakar Aliyu fell to him for a
rocketer that the goalkeeper found too hot to handle in the 15th
minute of the encounter. Efforts to increase the tally by the Eagles were
thwarted by the Gokana side, who obviously understood the pitch better than the
national team. They got their goal in similar fashion after a hot shot was
parried into the net by Skipper Chigozie Agbim in the 18thminute of the
encounter.
The second half though entertaining did not produce any
goal, with Keshi saying his wards had to take it easy because of the nature of
the pitch but added that he liked the stiff resistance of the Gokana United
team.
The low point of the match was when Yinka Adedeji, could not
start for the Eagles after he copped an injury while warming up for the match.
He was replaced by Benjamin Francis. Medics will decide the extent of his
injury on Sunday morning.
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