12th December, 2014
The Sand Eagles of Nigeria on Friday began the defence of their Copa Lagos Beach Soccer Championship title on a good note as they beat Ghana 7-5 in Lagos.
The Eagles had begun the match by scoring three goals through Victor Tale, Abu Azeez and Babatunde Badmus, in the first period of the match.
Shockingly, Ghana’s Frederick Kwevi brought his team back to contention by scoring two goals, while his team mate, Michael Selma, scored and made it 3-3 in the close of the second period.
The final period was a tight encounter as both teams tried earnestly to convert more scoring chances.
The third and final period saw Nigeria’s Sand Eagles having the upper hand as they recorded their fourth goal through Tale, before Ghana’s Kwevi replied and made it 4-4.
It became a nervous moment for the defending champions as they put all they had and recorded another goal through star player, Azeez.
Ghana’s determination yielded for them as Sema scored and made it 5-5, reenacting the old rivalry between the two countries.
However, with eight minutes left on the watch, Nigeria’s Tachi and Badmus scored and made it 7-5, after a spirited performance in their defence, to the delight of the fans.
Tale told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the sidelines of the match that they had the confidence they would carry the day.
“We were never nervous, even when Ghana did everything to come back each time we went ahead.
We were confident we will win in the end and fought very hard to get a very good result.
We will stop at nothing to win this title for the fourth time,” Tale said.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s star player, Kwevi said that the team had done very poorly in the defence and it was a very painful loss
“We did what we could but lost the match because of our poor defence, We hope to correct this next time,” he said.
Meanwhile in other first round matches played, the Beach Soccer team of FC Barcelona of Spain beat Pepsi Football Academy 7-3, while Cote d’Ivoire beat Senegal 6-2.
Enyimba International of Aba defeated Stationery Stores of Lagos 1-0.
Ex-international Peter Rufai, the President-General of Nigerian Football Supporters Club, Rafiu Ladipo, and the Pepsi Academy proprietor, Ian Nelson, were among notable individuals who watched the matches.
NAN reports that the fourth edition of the Copa Lagos is holding at the Eko Atlantic City in Victoria Island.
The tournament ends on Sunday.