Nigeria 1 Uganda 2: Isiyaka scores as Flying Eagles suffer shock defeat to Hippos in African Games opener

Nigeria kickstarted their campaign at the 13th African game with a 2-1 loss to Uganda on Thursday night.

The Flying Eagles got their first chance of the game in the 11th minute when Sadiq Isiyaka ran past his marker, squared the ball into the penalty area but the resulting attempt from Nasir Muhammed was blocked.

Arafat Usama gave Uganda the lead in the 33rd minute from a well worked counterattack which caught the Nigerian defence unawares and in a bad shape but Isiyaka would restore parity for Nigeria in the 37th minute with a fine header from a corner kick.

Captain Daniel Bamaiyi came close to giving  Nigeria the lead but his effort was blasted over the crossbar.

Godwin Sampson's header was the Flying Eagles first shot on target in the second half but his attempt was easily dealt with.

Moments later, Alonge Ibrahim was presented with a huge opportunity from a long diagonal ball but he shockingly couldn't bury the ball into the net.

Samuel James was forced to make a save from Abasi Kyeyune forceful shot in the first half and the latter came close to creating Uganda's second few seconds later but nobody could connect to his pass into the six yards box.

Isiyaka came close to getting the second goal for Ladan  Bosso's boys when he sent his marker the wrong way but his effort couldn't threaten the goalkeeper.

The Young Cranes got the winning goal in the 80th minute with a venomous shot from Ivan Irinimbabazi whose effort from outside the box got buried into the right bottom corner.

The Flying Eagles will next be in an action on Monday when they face South Sudan.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

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