Nigeria moved closer to qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics after the country’s representatives thrashed an ambitious Tanzanian side 3-0 on Sunday in a delayed return leg match played in Benin City.
The match which was originally planned for Saturday but could not hold due to a heavy downpour, saw the Austin Eguavoen-tutored side take the lead four minutes from start through Super Eagles hot shot, Ekigho Ehiosun.
The goal was a big relief to Nigerian fans who were crestfallen after the 0-1 first leg defeat of the Olympic team in Dar es Salam a fortnight earlier.The first half ended 1-0 in favour of the Nigerians.
The second half resumed with the Nigerians continuing from where they stopped, mounting ceaseless pressure on the Tanzanian defence whose mission of protecting their one goal lead from the first leg was evidently becoming too much for them to handle.
The Nigerian attacking style soon paid off when in the 57th minute Ganiyu Oseni doubled the score for the hosts with a clinical finish.
Aware of the danger the situation posed for them, the Tanzanians made occasional attempts at trying to stop the Nigerians but were unable to keep the rampaging lads away. Nigeria’s latest soccer sensation, Ahmed Musa who defied a back injury to feature in the all-important match justified his inclusion when he scored a stoppage time third goal to put victory beyond the Vijana Stars from Tanzania.
The next and final stage will see the introduction of a new qualifying system that is to be further communicated but three teams are going through to represent CAF at the London 2012 Olympics with a fourth African team going to meet a team from Asia in a play-off match to be held on 12th April 2012 in London, UK.
Source : Vanguard Newspaper.
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