Iheanacho’s Penalty, Gives S’Eagles Lifeline against Senegal
The wining streak enjoyed by coach Gernot Rohr since he took over as the Super Eagles coach finally came to an end last night as Nigeria rallied to a 1-1 score line against fellow West African power house in football, Senegal yesterday at the Hive, Stadium in London.
It is one of the two friendly matches lined up for the team in preparation for the Nations cup qualifying round of matches and the World Cup qualifiers which Nigeria is presently in the driving seat.
Although Nigeria paraded a much weak team considering the visa problem in getting replacement for some players that pulled out in the last minute including injured goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, the players on parade lived up to their billing against the star studded Senegal side.
Captained by Ogenyi Onazi who was later injured mid way in the first half, Super Eagles had a better possession of the ball and almost got a goal in the 40th minute as Ndidi released Ahmed Musa whose cross to the far post had nobody on hand to connect into empty net.
Iheanacho missed another seater on the stroke of halftime with only the keeper to beat.
In the second half, both teams made changes but it was the Senegalese with upper hand. Leicester City forward, could not meet up with the pace of the match, apparently the effect of inactivity with his club may have taken toll on him thus gave Senegal to make several incursions from the right side of Nigeria defense line and in the 53rd minute, Mousa Sow broke the deadlock to give the 2,500 spectators something to cheer with a goal.
Towards the tail end of the match, coach Rorh made three quick substitutions to give the Nigerian side a little bite in the attack. After several attempts, in the 83rd minute, Iheanacho was brought down in the vital area and referee Anthony Taylor made no mistake to award a penalty which the Manchester City striker convert to give Nigeria a deserved draw.
Nigeria will take on Burkina Faso on Monday in another friendly match in London.