{"id":8910,"date":"2016-10-09T20:45:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T19:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=8910"},"modified":"2016-10-09T20:45:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-09T19:45:16","slug":"super-eagles-begins-world-cup-campaign-on-bright-note","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/super-eagles-begins-world-cup-campaign-on-bright-note\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Eagles begins World Cup campaign on bright note"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigeria cruised past Zambia 2-1 at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium courtesy of first half goals from Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho giving new coach Gernot Rohr a winning start in the 2018 World Cup qualifying series.<\/span><\/p>\n

A consolation second half goal by Collins Mbesuma at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium brightened the hope of host spectators but wasn\u2019t enough to level up with the visitors who had lost chances in the first half.<\/span><\/p>\n

Presence of Zambian President Edgar Lungu didn\u2019t at anyway intimidate rampaging Super Eagles in attack as the trio of Iwobi, Iheanacho and Moses Simon continued their disturbance on Zambian defence.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would have been an earlier party for the West Africans if Brown Ideye had capitalised on Adrian Chama\u2019s defensive blunder in the third minute though few seconds later, impressive Carl Ikeme was forced to make a fine save from Fwayo Tembo\u2019s cross, saving Rohr\u2019s side an early embarrassment..<\/span><\/p>\n

It took prodigy\u00a0<\/span>Iwobi<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/b><\/span>32 minutes to put Rohr\u2019s men ahead \u2013 his first international goal since making his debut against Congo DR on October 8, 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Arsenal forward riffled past goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene after a defensive mishap from Wedson Nyirenda\u2019s men.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hosts\u2019 afternoon got worse when\u00a0<\/span>Iheanacho<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>got a pass from Brown Ideye, rounded up three Chipolopolo defenders and slotted home the second three minutes from the half time break.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zambia looked stronger in the second half and Ikeme had to produce sensational saves to deny Mbesuma, Rainford Kalaba and Chisamba Lungu.<\/span><\/p>

\r\n
Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

But Nigeria’s hopes of keeping a clean slate got dashed as\u00a0<\/span>Mbesuma<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>reduced the deficit in the 71st minute, no thanks to Kenneth Omeruo\u2019s blunder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kalaba and Jackson spurned two excellent opportunities to level scores in the closing stages of the game, as the Super Eagles calmed their nerves to seal maximum points.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nigeria host Algeria in their second game on November 7, 2016 while Zambia chase their first victory with an away tie against Cameroon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Story by Dayo Emmanuel<\/span><\/p>\n

With additional report from Goal.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria cruised past Zambia 2-1 at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium courtesy of first half goals from Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho giving new coach Gernot Rohr a winning start in the 2018 World Cup qualifying series. A consolation second half goal by Collins Mbesuma at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium brightened the hope of host spectators …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":8911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1101,1102,380,1103],"coauthors":[2392,2393],"class_list":["post-8910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-sports","tag-alex-iwobi","tag-kelechi-iheanacho","tag-super-eagles","tag-world-cup-qualifiers"],"yoast_head":"\nSuper Eagles begins World Cup campaign on bright note - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/super-eagles-begins-world-cup-campaign-on-bright-note\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Super Eagles begins World Cup campaign on bright note - National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigeria cruised past Zambia 2-1 at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium courtesy of first half goals from Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho giving new coach Gernot Rohr a winning start in the 2018 World Cup qualifying series. 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