Sunday 27 October 2013

5-star Uchechi's deadly show crushes sorry Sierra Leone at Abuja National Stadium

If it is any consolation to manager Anna Williams, at least Peter Dedevbo knows exactly how she feels.

The aftermath of this mauling provided the perfect occasion for Dedevbo to silence his critics at least for now.

Uchechi nabbed a quickfire five goals, but there was also plenty of room to extol the virtues of the players who made Nigerians proud.

It was difficult to disagree with Dedevbo's praise of his players. Uchechi was simply awesome, Chidinma Edeji crowned a brilliant effort with one of his best displays.

The list goes on, Patience Okaeme a constant thorn in the side, Asisat Oshoala and Winifred Eyebhoria silky smooth in midfield and Victoria Aidelomon solid at the back.

Falconets needed just 44 seconds to signal their intent, Okaeme was unable to get her flick from Edeji's driven cross on target. Yetunde Adeboyejo was then guilty of heading Wilson Jiroro idike's accurate cross wide. Oshoala, also had two speculative shots well covered by Cecilia Bangura.

Okaeme's riffle hit the woodwork in the 8th minute, while Sarah Nnodim's solo run from the back was foiled by Benita Bah.

The early incursions of the Nigerian girls paid off in the 11th minute, when the probing Edeji cut inside the edge to lay a wicked pass to Oshoala, who sent the final jigsaw to lurking Halimatu Ayinde. The Delta Queens winger made no mistake in netting the first goal of the match.

Edeji then started to take charge of affairs from the wings, as she turned Benita Sesay to a mere spectator. She lashed on to Yetunde's dummy to double the lead. Ayinde followed up with a brace in the 25th minute of play.

However, the Peter Dedevbo-led coaching crew were dealt a massive blow when Bayelsa Queens' Yetunde was taken off due to troublesome ankle injury she sustained in the 35th minute.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the magician, Sunday Uchechi took her place. The Rivers Angels goal-machine made an instant impact when she collected a shot pass from her clubside team-mate, Oshoala in the 36th minute, sending a powerful drive to the right-hand side of Bangura's goal post.

Pelican Stars winger-turned-midfielder, Winifred made a dangerous incursion to the box and she was brought down by Hannah Conteh. Uchechi stepped up to convert the penalty kick and the first half ended five-nil, much to the delight of the fans, who wanted more.

Sierra Leone had Bangura to thank for initially stemming the flow, the young keeper pulled off four good quality saves. And Falconets's first half pressure soon began to wane.

Uchechi continued her one-woman demolition job in the 52nd minute by turning in yet another Edeji's cross which Bangura was unable to deal with.

Six minutes later, Uchechi was unselfishly fed by the hardworking Okaeme and she demonstrated her deadly finishing once more, racing on to ball that bisected Ramatu Bangura and Jeneba Komara before sending an angled drive in off the post.

Edeji profited from the miss of Okaeme to score after Uchechi bombarded her way through Haja Kamara and her cross was buried with unerring accuracy.

Dedevbo could have been forgiven for wondering whether now was the time to introduce some players on the bench, with the game rapidly turning into the perfect occasion for a confidence boost.

The temptation was resisted as Okaeme felt it was time to get among the goals, this time crashing a header that deflected off Koroma. By now Sierra Leone's shell-shocked players were too stunned even to hang on to the concept of damage limitation.

Having briefly relinquished the goalscoring duties, Uchechi grabbed her fifth in the 3rd minute of added time, this time opting for the near post as the best option for Edeji's through-ball.

The stats:

Nigeria U20 women team list against Sierra Leone U20 women; Chichi Sandra, Okoye Ebere, Idike Jiroro, Oshoala Asisat, Aidelemon Victoria, Nnodim Sarah, Edeji Chidinma, Eyebhoria Winifred, Okaeme Patience (c), Adeboyejo Yetunde (Sunday Uchechi 35'), Ayinde Halimatu (Igbinovia Osarenoma 63').

Subs Not Used: Ibijoke Sangonuga, Abasi Gladys, Abiodun Kemi, Effiom Mabel, Ofoegbu Oluchi.

The goals:

Nigeria U20 women 10-0 Sierra Leone U20 women
Halimatu Ayinde 11', 25'
Chindinma Edeji 22', 61'
Sunday Uchechi 36', 37', 38', 52, 90'
Patience Okaeme 78'

Written By Ademetan Abayomi
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