Monday 17 June 2013

Nigeria Trounce Tahiti 6-1, tops group B...

The Super Eagles on monday made the country proud as the dealt severely with the Tahitians in their first group game of the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. The beat the Pacific Islanders 6-1 on Monday.

In a match that saw Nigeria missing several begging chances, defender Elderson Echiejile got two goals, while Italy-based Nnamdi Oduamadi registered the first hat trick of the competition.

Jonathan Tehau, who pulled one back for Tahiti, was on the weeping end when he netted an own-goal.

It was Tahiti’s first appearance at the Confederation Cup and Nigeria’s second. That fact, however, took nothing away from the African champions as they dominated every department of the game.

The Tahitians had adopted a five-man defensive formation but Echiejile’s fifth minute goal forced them out, making the game more fluid. That only opened the way for Oduamadi five minutes later when he grabbed a spilled ball from goalkeeper Xavier Samin to make it 2-0. He struck again in the 26th minute to make it 3-1.

Tahue, grabbing his fourth international goal, scored Tahiti’s first goal at the Confederations Cup, but he was to be on the scorers’ sheet again when he aided Nigeria to their fourth goal with an own-goal in the 68th minute.

Oduamadi, however, resumed scoring in the 76th minute, getting an assist from Brown iideye, who himself had missed three one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
It was Echiejile who capped it all with an assist from Ahmed Musa to finish the game at 6-1 in the 80th minute.

Nigeria now top Group B with three points and five goals advantage ahead of Spain who have three points but one goal advantage.

Nigeria will next meet Uruguay on Thursday in their second group game.

Wednesday 1 May 2013

"BACERLONA YOUR DAYS ARE OVER"....says Arjen Robben.

The Netherlands international scored in each leg of the semi-final against Tito Vilanova's side, and was delighted that his team progressed to the final at the Blaugrana's expense Arjen Robben was surprised at how easily Bayern Munich beat Barcelona in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final at Camp Nou.
The former Real Madrid star opened the scoring with a fine finish past Victor Valdes shortly after half-time, before an own goal from Gerard Pique and a towering header from Thomas Muller late on made it 3-0.
"It surprised me that we could dominate the match today, but we deserve credits for this. We expected a tough game, but it wasn't that tough at all," the Dutchman told NOS.,
. "It's not up to me to say that we were superior to Barca, but we won both games with our own style.
Speaking to Uefa.com after the game, Robben said: "I think it is a terrific performance, it is a little bit of history.
"To perform like this, against a team who have dominated Europe for the past five years, who have so much quality, it is amazing.
"The most important thing is we play as a team, not only going forward but defensively. "If you want to achieve something and have results and win competitions at a high level you have to defend as a team."
Robben then gave his thoughts on the prospect of an all-German Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
"[The final] is going to be a big one. Dortmund have proved over last two to three years they are a very good team."
Fellow Bayern winger Franck Ribery was equally impressed with the team's showing against the Catalans and highlighted their team ethic as the side's key quality. "Above all, we all work together. We want to do something together and we showed that tonight," the France international told Canal+. "We knew that if we defended well, we could score goals. "Dortmund is a team that is not easy to play against and has a little of our style – it will be a good match. The France international also expressed his desire to finally get his hands on a Champions League winners medal, having twice been a runner-up. "I've already lost two finals, I do not want to lose a third. We'll play as we played tonight." FCB aptain Philipp Lahm explained that he always thought his team was capable of producing a performance like they did against the Liga leaders. "It’s not taken for granted to beat Barcelona on their home ground 3-0," he said. "But I’ve always said that we have special characters in our squad and that we are capable of great things." The Bavarian giants will face Dortmund in the first all-German Champions League final. The match will be held at Wembley on May 25.