U20 WC Nigeria 2 Dominican Republic 1: Lawal's goal gets Flying Eagles off to winning start 

Nigeria began the quest to win a first FIFA U-20 FIFA World Cup Sunday evening with a 2-1 win over debutant Dominican Republic at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza .
 

The tournament in Argentina is the 13th appearance at the U-20 World Cup for the Flying Eagles who were runners up in 1989 and 2005 in Saudi Arabia and The Netherlands respectively.  

 

The Flying Eagles had a penalty appeal inside the 18-yard box  turned down by the referee nine minutes into the game after the ball seemingly struck Kleffer Martes.

 

Jude Sunday's 13th minute shot was deflected onto the path of Muhammed but his own effort at the edge of the box was gathered by Dominican goalkeeper Xavier Valdez.

 

Dominican Republic thought they merited a penalty after Benjamin Fredrick fouled an opponent as the first half wore on but the Flying Eagles had their chance to go ahead with Jude Sunday evading the challenges of his markers to hit a shot that fizzled wide.

 

However the VAR review to the initial foul inside the Nigerian box went in favour of the debutant in the 23rd minute and Edison Azcona cool slotted the ball inside the net, sending Chijioke Aniagboso the wrong way.

 

The Nigerians worked their way into the Dominican Republic vital area but goalkeeper Valdez gathered the ball.

 

Parity was restored with half an hour played when right back Guillermo Ronaldo Peña's looping header beat his goalkeeper as he attempted to clear the ball.

 

Jude Sunday in the space of two minutes let fly powerful shots in search of a second goal. The first was a 37th minute screamer which Valdez tipped over the bar for a corner kick  while the second was easily saved from a low shot.

 

After a VAR check, Salim Fago Lawal was correctly deemed to have handled the ball before Martes inadvertently touched it inside the box ruling out a late penalty in the first half for Nigeria.

 

The introduction of Emmanuel Umeh in the second half brought more injection of pace to the Nigerian side which saw the Eagles score what looked like a second goal  scored by Jude Sunday in the 68th minute albeit the goal was ruled out for offside.

 

Samson Lawal pounced on a poor back pass by Israel Boatwright in the 70th minute to slot past the goalkeeper as the Nigerians got into the lead.

 

Sarki dribbled past a sea of white jerseys and had his dinked effort parried by the Dominican goalie onto the path of Tochukwu Nnadi but the Nigerian midfielder misdirected his shot in front of the six-yard box to deny the Eagles a third goal.

 

Dominican Republic's playmaker Edison Azcona let fly a superb shot from distance with five minutes left to play but goalkeeper Aniagboso parried the ball away - his first save in the second half of the game.

               

 

 Izuchukwu Michael

 

 

Photo Credit : fifa.com
 

 

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