Wingless Eagles live to fly another day

They played without direction and purpose for the better part of Sunday's game, but a Victor Nsofor goal in the third minute of added time gave the Super Eagles a 1-0 victory over Mozambique in Abuja.
And with Tunisia only able to secure a lone goal victory over Kenya in Rades, also on Sunday, it means the battle for Group B's sole World Cup ticket will not be decided until the very last round of matches on November 15 when the Super Eagles visit Kenya and Tunisia do likewise to Mozambique.
Sunday's encounter at the National Stadium started with the vast majority of fans at the match venue rooting for the visitors following the rendition of their national anthem.
But when it came to the rendition of the Nigerian Anthem by the Nigeria Police Band, it was all boos and jeers for the Eagles, a trend that was to replay itself at various stages of the game, especially at moments when the Mambas appeared to hold sway over the Eagles whose coach, Shuaibu Amodu, started the game with the defensive midfield trio of Seyi Olofinjana, Yusuf Ayila, and Oluwafemi Ajilore.
The jeers from the home fans, however, turned to cheers when Ajilore's shot from the edge of the Mozambican box in the 14th minute just missed the post by inches but the fans were silenced four minutes later when Dario Montero, with Mozambique's first incursion into the Nigerian area, struck Vincent Enyeama's cross bar.
On the half hour mark, Yusuf Mohammed limped out of the game and with Danny Shittu coming in for the Switzerland based defender, Obinna Nwaneri, was forced to fill in at right back.
The Eagles, however, still lacked the required penetration in the final third of the pitch but Ajilore forced Mozambican keeper, Rafael Kapango, into another brilliant save with yet another shot from the edge of the area.
Second half
Kapango was also on hand to save Osaze Odemwingie's curling free kick from the edge of the box two minutes into the second half, and the Egyptian-based goal minder, four minutes later, was on hand to deny Odemwingie, who was by far the best Nigerian player on the pitch, from putting the Eagles ahead.
But with time running out, and with his team unable to break down Mart Nooij's determined side, Amodu introduced Obafemi Martins in the 56th minute for the uninspiring Aiyegbeni Yakubu and the Wolfsburg of Germany attacker quickly got into the tick of action as he, six minutes later, curled his right foot effort onto Kapango's crossbar with the goalkeeper firmly rooted to the spot.
And Kapango was yet again the saviour for the Mambas when he pulled off two good saves to prevent the increasingly desperate Eagles from shooting into the lead, first from Martins, nine minutes from the end and then, two minutes later, from Odemwingie.
But he had no ready answer to Nsofor's header from the edge of the six yard box which ended his side's determined resistance and kept the Eagles in the race for South Africa 2010.