Amuneke hails Eaglets after victory over Egypt

Coach Emmanuel Amuneke has nothing but praises for the Golden Eaglets following a brave 3-2 comeback win against Egypt in the first of their double header international friendly match against Egypt at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna yesterday.
The visitors scored two first half goals through Mahmoud Mahbob and Walid Attid but were overhauled by Nigeria courtesy goals by Samuel Chukwueze, Kelechi Nwakali and Sunday Alimi.
“Sincerely, I thank the players for their courage to win this match despite the fact that they conceded two early goals,” Amuneke said.”
Of course, there were errors because this was the first time we were playing on a natural pitch since we had long been training on artificial surface.
It was indeed a hard fought win for the Golden Eaglets as the Egyptians went into the lead just six minutes into the game following a loss of concentration at the Nigeria’s end.
Defender Anas Mohammed playing on the right full back, failed to clear a ball and allowed Egypt’s Mohammed Hamdy to float a ball for Mahbob to effortlessly guide the ball into the net. Five minutes later, the Eaglets were punished yet again in a similar circumstance when another ball was floated into the box for unmarked Walid Attid to nod the ball into an empty net beyond a badly positioned goalkeeper Amos Benjamin.
But Golden Eaglets fought back gamely and in the 27th minute, Samuel Chukwueze pulled a goal back when he collected a through ball from Suleiman Abdullahi and ghosted past his marker before driving the ball beyond the reach of Egypt’s goalkeeper Mahmoud Gad.
Chukwueze’s goal coincided with the arrival of His Excellency, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, Kaduna State’s Deputy Governor and other top government officials as the Golden Eaglets began their revival towards the end of the first half.
The two teams would return to the same venue on Friday for the second match as they both continue their build up towards the 2015 CAN Under-17 qualifiers in July.