TheCable

The Uganda Cranes stunned Super Eagles of Nigeria 1-0 in an international friendly played at the Akwa Ibom Stadium, Uyo, on Wednesday.

Farouk Miya, who plays in the Ugandan Super League, scored the only goal of the match in the 81st minute to silence the home fans.

Vincent Enyeama achieved a record-equalling 100 games for the national team but like Joseph Yobo before him, it was taken with a bitter pill of defeat.

Stand-in coach Daniel Amokachi handed debuts to Odion Ighalo, Moses Simon and Akeem Latifu, but it was the latter that deflected Miya’s effort into his own net.

Super Eagles started the game in search of an early goal. Anthony Ujah’s shot was parried by goalkeeper Denis Onyango and cleared by his defenders before Ahmed Musa could bury the rebound.

The Cranes had a chance of their own in the 14th minute from a Geoffrey Massa’s free kick which was deflected for a corner.

In the 19th minute, an exchange of passes from the Super Eagles freed Steven Ukoh but his shot from outside the box was saved by Onyango.

Massa was a constant worry to the Eagles’ backline and another free kick from him narrowly missed the target.

Nigeria had the final effort at goal just before the break, but Onyango was alert to the danger posed by Musa’s effort.

Six minutes into the second half, Ighalo was played through by Musa, but his lame effort was easily saved by the goalkeeper.

Debutant Ighalo came close again in the 54th minute but failed to dribble his way past the defenders before going down in the box.

It was a ding-dong affair afterwards until the visitors broke loose from a counter attack.

The ball fell to Miya and his goalbound effort was deflected by Latifu past the hapless Enyeama who tried in vain to stop the ball from hitting the back of the net.

Aaron Samuel was brought in late on to salvage the score line for the home side, but the Cranes held on for a famous win.

Nigeria will meet Bafana Bafana in South Africa on Sunday for their next tune-up match.