| A cosmopolitan crowd basking in the baking heat inside the Parc des Princes, Paris, saw Nigeria secure their place in the
second stage of France '98, following this 1-0 victory against Bulgaria. The "Group of Death" has proved far from that for the
Africans who followed up their surprise 3-2 defeat of Spain with a well-deserved triumph thanks to a 27th-minute goal from
African Footballer of the Year Victor Ikpeba. Nigeria, brimming with confidence from the off, set about the Bulgarians in a
match of contrasting styles, with the exciting, free-flowing football of the Africans up against a more patient routine approach by
the Europeans. Finidi George had an effort punched over for a corner and Sunday Oliseh again showed his shooting prowess
when driving narrowly wide in the first ten minutes. For all the Nigerians refreshing natural creativity, the Bulgarians always
looked dangerous when breaking forward and in the strike pairing of Stoichkov and Kostadinov they had the experienced
heads to trouble any naivety in the African defence. It came as little surprise when Nigerian took the lead on 27 minutes from a
typical piece of delightful interplay involving the vastly gifted Augustine Okocha and the powerful promptings of Daniel
Amokachi, who combined to slice open the Bulgarian defence to set up Ikpeba for a goal of stunning simplicity. Bulgaria sent
out several warnings before half-time that they were still very much in the match, with a couple of long-range efforts from
Kostadinov and Stoichkov, whilst Nigeria's grace and fluency conjured up further goal attempts for Ikpeba and Okocha. After
the interval Bulgaria stepped up their tempo realising that they needed something out of this match with the final group game
against Spain to come. Again it was the two veterans Kostadinov and Stoichkov who so nearly snatched the equaliser after 66
minutes, but the latter's instinctive toe-poke just shaved Peter Rufai's post. Within the space of eight minutes Nigeria had three
glorious chances to settle the contest, as first substitute Nwanko Kanu saw a volley tipped over by Zdravkov, then Finidi
George miscued in front of goal before Lawal had a shot blocked on the line. Bulgaria so nearly made the Africans pay when
Kostadinov struck the underside of the crossbar in the 87th-minute with the ball rebounding to safety, but a goal then would
have been extremely harsh on Nigeria who grittily hung on for victory. Nigeria now top Group D with six points whilst Bulgaria
are level on one point in the last position with Spain who later tonight drew with Paraguay in St Etienne. |
(1-0) Ikpeba (27). A marvellous interplay between Okocha and Amokachi saw a ball played into the striker, who dummied defender Ivanov, allowing the ball to run
across his body, before finishing neatly with the outside of his right foot low under the body of 'keeper Zdravkov from ten yards. |
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