The flying Eagles of Nigeria kicked off their U20 World Cup campaign on a positive note following a 2-1 win over debutant Dominican Republic at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza .
The first timers took the lead in the 23rd minute of the game after Azcona was fouled inside the box by center-back Benjamin Frederick and after a long check, the North Americans were awarded a penalty by the center referee. Their captain, Edison Azcona converted from the 18-yard box to give the Dominicans the lead. Parity was restored with half an hour played when right back Guillermo Ronaldo Peña’s looping header beat his goalkeeper as he attempted to clear the ball, making it an own goal in favour of the Flying Eagles.
Jude Sunday in the space of two minutes let fly powerful shots in search of a second goal. The first was a 37th minute screamer which Valdez tipped over the bar for a corner kick while the second was easily saved from a low shot.
The introduction of Emmanuel Umeh in the second half brought more injection of pace to the Nigerian side which saw the Eagles score what looked like a second goal scored by Jude Sunday in the 68th minute albeit the goal was ruled out for offside.
Also in the group with Nigeria are Brazil and Italy. Currently, the Italian side is beating the Brazilians 3-0 in the first half of their game
The tournament in Argentina is the 13th appearance at the U-20 World Cup for the Flying Eagles who were runners up in 1989 and 2005 in Saudi Arabia and The Netherlands respectively.