Bright Ejike battles Amajita skipper Gumede
Nigeria U20s on Friday night in Nelspruit held hosts South Africa to a 1-1 draw in a first leg qualifier for the 2013 AYC.
The Amajita, who defeated their Nigerian counterparts 1-0 at an invitational tournament in May in Cape Town, struck first on 13 minutes through top striker Thabani Mthembu, who appeared to have sprung a Nigerian offside trap to head home past skipper Samuel Okani.
The Flying Eagles drew level in the 54th minute through the unlucky Abduljaleel Ajagun, who saw several other efforts miss by the whisker.
That included in the 41st minute when the goal-bound Ajagun was felled just on the edge of the box for a free kick.
The home team, who were missing top star Snethemba Ngidi who is sitting for his exams, continued to dictate the pace of the game even after the opening goal.
Percy Tau’s shot missed narrowly on 18 minutes as the Amajita continued to use the long, high balls to unsettle the visitors.
Flying Eagles striker Alhaji Gero troubled the South African back four occasionally to start up a personal duel with big central defender Ismael Mngonyama, who will later be booked for a rough charge on the Rangers striker.
In the 42nd minute a goal-bound shot from inside the box taken by Chidi Osuchukwu was miraculously blocked by the towering Mngonyama.
If the first half belonged to Amajita, the second half was for the Flying Eagles as they now settled down to play the passing game and not follow their opponents in the kick and rush game.
On 74 minutes substitute Umar Aminu beat the Amajita goalkeeper to an aerial ball, but his header crashed against the crossbar and the onrushing Yahaya Adamu could not connect home for another big chance for Nigeria.
As the clock ran down, Nigeria finished the stronger and will be more fancied to finish off this contest by grabbing the ticket to the 2013 African Youth Championship in Algeria when both teams clash again on October 7 in Ilorin.
Starting XI
Samuel Okani (skipper) – Halilu Obadaki, Shehu Abdullahi, Ikechukwu Okorie, Chizoba Amaefule – Ovboka Agboyi (Umar Aminu 51), Abduljaleel Ajagun, Moses Orkuma – Bright Ejike(Uche Agbo 90), Alhaji Gero(Yahaya Adamu 60), Chidi Osuchukwu
Unused Subs: Jonah Usman, Hassan Abubakar, Tope Aluko, Izuegbu Abonima
Coach: John Obuh