Jamaica proved a hard nut to crack, but cracked they were in the end as the Super Eagles won an entertaining Unity Cup Tournament final match following a penalty shootout in west London on Saturday.
A terrific atmosphere of singing, dancing and feasting provided a fitting background to a game that swung from end to end at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium, with Nigeria scoring first and then conceding, and then scoring and conceding before penalty shootout was called to separate the teams.
It was exactly 21 years to the day the Super Eagles had beaten the same Reggae Boyz in more commanding fashion – two goals to nothing courtesy strikes by John Utaka and Bartholomew Ogbeche at The Valley, homeground of Charlton Athletic FC.
On that day, Utaka, in the same white top and short, had finished with aplomb to put the Eagles ahead, similar to the way he had latched on to a long pass by Nwankwo Kanu to drill the sword into Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia months earlier, ending the campaign of the Cup holders.
In the semi finals played on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jamaica had beaten Trinidad and Tobago 3-2 with a last-gasp penalty. Kasey Palmer, Rumarn Burrell and Richard King were the scorers on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Cyriel Dessers and Semi Ajayi were on song for the Super Eagles.
On Saturday, Cyriel Dessers, whose composed finish to put the Eagles ahead against Ghana in the semi-final was still talk of the global football environment, floated the ball skillfully into the box for Moses Simon to jab past Shaquan Davis in the ninth minute.
Unruffled, the Reggae Boyz, coaxed on by their supporters who constituted two-thirds of the crowd, equalised three minutes later when Rumarn Burrell darted past Sodiq Ismaila on the right and squared for Kaheim Dixon to drive past Stanley Nwabali.
Dessers, ever vibrant, came close in the 23rd minute only for Davis to hold the ball tight and prevent any damage.
Nigeria began the second half the way they did the first, with the ebullient Samuel Chukwueze ghosting past a number of defenders and slotting past Davis into the left corner in the 53rd minute.
Again, the Boyz were unfazed. Instead, they regrouped, flowed past the Nigeria rearguard from the right again and Jonathan Russell was on hand to finish with a flourish.
In the end, a penalty shootout was needed, and Kelechi Iheanacho, Simon Moses, Tolu Arokodare, Bruno Onyemaechi and Christantus Uche scored their kicks while Jamaica missed their fourth kick.
