Two goals by Saviour Godwin in the opening five minutes of the second half helped Nigeria to a 4-0 win over North Korea in their Fifa Under-20 World Cup match at Stadium Taranaki in New Plymouth on Thursday.
Nigeria coach Manu Garba made a huge statement by dropping star trio, Man City's Kelechi Iheanacho, Tottenham's Musa Yahaya and Granada's Isaac Success.
They were replaced by Kingsley Sokari, Bernard Bulbwa and hero, Saviour Godwin. Combative midfielder, Akinjide Idowu, started in place of the injured Ifeanyi Matthew with the coach keeping faith in calamitous goalkeeper, Enahalo.
How the Eagles started:
Nigeria XI: Enahalo; M. Musa, Ndidi, Bello, Mustapha; Idowu, Ifeanyi, Sokari; Bulbwa (77' Success), Saviour (70' Yahaya), Awoniyi.
After a scoreless first half, Nigeria burst into life in the late afternoon clash and collected their first points of the competition after a 4-2 loss to Brazil last Monday.
Nigeria were clearly the better side, creating far more attacking opportunities, particularly when going down the centre of the pitch. With the crowd thirsting for more after a 12-goal bonanza on Monday, the Nigerians obliged.
The third Nigerian goal was a stunner. A corner was cleared but it went directly to Kingsley Sokari who gave the North Korean defence no chance, rifling the ball into the top left to
make it 3-0.
The fourth goal was equally impressive. After an attack down the centre, substitute Success Isaac beat the diving keeper from an acute angle to score in the 80th minute.
The Nigerians had seven attempts on goal in the first 30 minutes of the match, while the North Koreans managed only three for the entire half.
Whatever was said at halftime worked for the Africans with the flying eagles ruthless in the second half.
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