Nigeria are through to the semi-finals at the FIFA U-17 World
Cup Korea 2007 after defeating Argentina 2-0 at the Cheonan Sports
Complex on Sunday 2 September. The Africans now meet Germany or
England for a place in the Final.
Argentina had the best of the early exchanges in a
closely-fought and occasionally physical first half. Nigeria keeper
Oladele Ajiboye saved Alexis Machuca's driven free-kick from
over 30 yards, before Santiago Fernandez fired over the bar from
the edge of the box ten minutes later. But the tables were turned
on 33 minutes when the Africans took the lead after captain Lukman
Haruna went down in the penalty area under a challenge from
Fernando Meza.
Haruna picked himself up and dispatched the spot-kick to hand
the Golden Eaglets the lead. Then on the stroke of half-time a
glorious exchange of passes on the left sent Macauley Chrisantus
clear in front of goal, the striker making no mistake to double his
side's advantage and take his personal tally for the tournament
to six.
The Africans had the better of the chances after the restart,
Matthew Edile coming within a whisker of increasing the lead with a
low drive. Argentina introduced a fresh striker in the shape of
Carlos Benitez and the gamble looked set to bear fruit, but
Maximiliano Oliva missed a good opening and Ajiboye beat out
Eduardo Salvio's long-range effort. The final clear-cut chance
fell to Nigeria, but Kabiru Akinsola's shot ended in the
side-netting and the margin of victory remained at 2-0.
