Nigeria Content Online

Nigeria’s only
surviving club in the CAF Champions League, Heartland on Sunday
recorded their first win of the group stage of the continent’s top club
competition when they beat visiting Egyptian club side, Ismaily.

The encounter
played at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri ended 2-1 in favour of
Heartland but the team’s coach Samson Siasia will still have cause to
complain about his misfiring forward line as all of his side’s goals
against Ismaily came from defenders.

Heartland needed to
win in order to keep alive their fading hopes for a semi final berth
after failing to win any of their opening three games of the group
stage. And to make matters worse for Siasia’s side, it was the visitors
who shot into the lead after 29 minutes through Mohamed Soliman Ali.

That lead, however,
lasted for only nine minutes before the team’s skipper Ike Thankgod
pulled them back on level terms with the Egyptians who two weeks
earlier defeated Heartland in Egypt 1-0.

Heartland’s last
home encounter against another Egyptian side Al-Ahly, back in July, had
ended in a one-all draw and Owerri fans will be forgiven for thinking
that it was going to be the same case scenario against Ismaily until
former Enugu Rangers captain Chinedu Efugh popped up to score the match
winning goal with five minutes left on the clock.

The win saw
Heartland swapping places with Ismaily in the Group B standings but
anything less than a win in their upcoming game against Al-Ahly in two
weeks time will mark the end of the Owerri side’s Champions League
aspirations.

Eaglets grounded in Congo

It was, however, a
different story in Pointe Noire, Congo where the Nigerian Under 17
national team, the Golden Eaglets, fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of
their hosts in an African Junior Championship first round, first leg
qualifier.

The Golden Eaglets,
silver medal winners at the last FIFA World Cup held in Nigeria last
year, fell behind after just eight minutes through a penalty kick goal,
but they afterwards kept the Congolese at bay to go into the dressing
room at the half-time break just a goal down.

Worse was to come
their way in the second half as they conceded a second goal two minutes
before the hour mark before the match’s centre referee from the Central
African Republic Bertrand Bekai issued a red card to the Nigerian coach
Monday Odigie for challenging some of his calls.

Odigie’s expulsion
means he will not be on the bench when both sides meet in the return
leg encounter in Nigeria on September 11.