2023 Fifa U20 World Cup : Five observations from Flying Eagles' 2-1 win over Dominican Republic

The Nigeria U-20 national team began their campaign in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina with a 2-1 win over Dominican Republic. 

All Nigeria Soccer here presents the five observations from the win. 

1. Flying Eagles early nerves 

The Flying Eagles defence began the game in panicky mode as they struggled to deal with the hunger of the debuting Dominican Republic side. 

The clearances were sloppy and long passes into the opposition half were not weighted. 

The Dominicans showed defensive discipline but could not stop the own goal eventually. 

2. Daga, Sunday the targets for fouls 

The Nigerians won a few more free kicks than their opponents in the first half due to the tackles and fouls against the likes of Daniel Daga and Jude Sunday. 

A clash of the feet between Daga and an opponent contributed to the 10 minutes time awarded as added time in the first half. 

A foul on Sunday in the second half byGuillermo de Pena produced the first yellow card of the game. 

3. Selfish Sunday? 

Jude Sunday turned out as the biggest threat to the Dominican Republic with his pace, trickery and shots. 

Sunday had over 10 shots and was unarguably the player with the most efforts out of the 23 attempts that the Nigerian U-20 side had in the game. 

It was not his day as all his efforts failed to yield a goal after he was denied one for an offside. 

4.  Aniagboso second half 'break' 

Flying Eagles goalkeeper Chijioke Aniagboso was literally not tested by the Dominican Republic youngsters until five minutes before the game ended - barring the penalty scored by Edison Azcona. 

5. Flying Eagles game management 

Nigeria became a bit more conservative in possession after the introduction of Victor Eletu and Haliru Sarki for Ibrahim Muhammad and  Samson Lawal. 

The Flying Eagles kept the ball better in possession in a bid to run the clock down. 

Izuchukwu Michael
    
 

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