By Taiwo Ibrahim
Finidi George began his Super Eagles interim reign with an impressive 2-1 win over arch-rivals, Ghana in an international friendly match in Morocco on Friday, Sportivationng.com
The team showed their culinary skills on the pitch, serving the Black Stars two portion of Nigerian jollof spiced with a sprinkle of white pepper, garnished with fresh tomatoes.
Cyriel Dessers and Ademola Lookman were the CHEF on duty in Marrakech.
Dessers sent Lawrence Ati-Zigi the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 38th minute, after Jerome Opoku handled a shot by Kelechi Iheanacho. The Leicester City of England man had earlier struck the woodwork as Nigeria pressed.
Stanley Nwabali made series of impressive saves to keep the Super Eagles in the game, picking up from where he stopped at the 2023 Nations Cup in Ivory Coast.
The result was an exact reverse of the scoreline when George, as a player, first featured for Nigeria against Ghana in an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final clash in Senegal 32 years ago.
Opoku would pick up a red card in the 57th minute for dissent, leaving the Black Stars with 10 men.
The Black Stars came close to restoring parity two minutes after Nigeria went in front, with Antoine Semenyo all by himself at the other end, but Nwabali proved the rock.
Both teams showed good composure and firm control on the lush turf of the Grand Stade de Marrakech, and Nigeria stretched her lead with six minutes left when substitute Ademola Lookman calmly slotted past goalkeeper Ati-Zigi and an onrushing defender after a good team move that involved fellow substitute Moses Simon and Alex Iwobi.
In four minutes of added time, Bright Osayi-Samuel brought down fSemenyo well into the Nigeria box, and captain Jordan Ayew made no mistake from the spot.
The Super Eagles will play a second friendly against the Les Aigles of Mali at the same venue on Tuesday night.
