Super Eagles draw in match against Mexico | Tunde Folawiyo
Nigeria’s friendly against Mexico at the Georgia Dome was a highly anticipated match, which ended with a draw of 0-0. The Super Eagles appeared to be the superior 
team at first glance, getting off to a strong start when Ahmed Musa was afforded a free kick just three minutes into the match. However, Musa failed to score, and this, coupled with Victor Moses’ penalty claim being denied five minutes later, probably dampened the hopes of the Eagles’ fans like Tunde Folawiyo.
Another attempt was made by Emmanuel Emenike a few minutes later, but Ochoa, Mexico’s goalkeeper, managed to catch the ball at the last second. Not long after this, the Mexican also successfully thwarted Ogenyi Onazi’s shot.
The flurry of attacks by the Super Eagles only seemed to spur on their opponents, and as the first half progressed, Mexico began to gain the upper hand, retaining possession of the ball and taking one shot after another at Nigeria’s net. The Eagles’ keeper Enyeama performed a number of skilful saves however, thus ensuring that despite their best efforts, Mexico did not take the lead.
They did however come very close to scoring in the 23rd minute, when Hector Herrara delivered a powerful shot; unfortunately for Mexican fans, the angle of Herrara’s kick was not quite straight, and it went just over the net. Minutes later, Rafael Marquez made a similar attempt, but Enyeama once again came to the Eagles’ rescue, diving to the corner just before the ball made contact with the goal. Towards the end of the first half, Musa was given an opportunity to score, but whilst he did slip past Mexico’s defenders, he couldn’t manage to get the ball beyond Ochoa’s reach.
During the interval, Keshi chose to make a number of substitutions, and as the second half commenced, Leon Balogun, Ramon Azeez and Austin Ejide all made their way onto the pitch. But these changes had little effect on the match; although Azeez did make a valiant effort to score during the 67th minute, his shot went just wide of the net.
The match ended with neither side having scored; whilst some Eagles’ supporters, such as Tunde Folawiyo, may have been disappointed by this result, Austin Egueavon, the team’s former coach, described the team’s performance as ‘impressive’, although he did criticise the players who had been unsuccessful in their attempts to convert their scoring opportunities. He attributed these failures to a lack of support in midfield.
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