Taiwo Awoniyi netted both of the Super Eaglets’ goals at Sharjah Stadium late on Saturday night, profiting from some fine approach work by Kelechi Iheanacho to down the Uruguayans – some of whom were understandably in tears at the final whistle.
The South Americans had begun the game brightly in truth. Leandro Otormin turned Enrique Etcheverry’s centre narrowly wide of the far post before a defensive mix-up for Nigeria coughed up a chance for Kevin Mendez, who drilled straight at goalkeeper Dele Alampasu.
The Nigerians had shown hardly anything of meaningful substance in the opening quarter of an hour.
But, when a team with such offensive potency clicks into gear, it invariably results in a goal and so it proved on 18 minutes.
Iheanacho threaded an eye-of-the-needle pass through several light blue jerseys and Awoniyi instinctively read it, running on to bury a first-time finish beyond custodian Thiago Cardozo.
Undeterred, Uruguay continued to probe away and press at the other end, with long-range efforts sporadically peppering Alampasu’s goal from the likes of Mendez and Otormin.
Nigeria’s attacks in the opposite half looked characteristically neat and tidy, yet the end product was in surprisingly short supply as many a shot sailed high and wide.
Having arguably shaded the first 45 minutes though, Uruguay vanished as an offensive force in the second period as Nigeria set up camp in one half of the field.
Fabian Coito’s XI had no release from the unrelenting pressure as, with nobody holding the ball up in the final third of the pitch, it soon came back towards their defence with almost alarming regularity.
Their resistance would finally break with 11 minutes left on the clock. Abdullahi Alfa fed Iheanacho in a good position inside the penalty area.
Iheanacho could have taken a shot, but he unselfishly laid the ball across for Awoniyi to slot home his second.
It was game over and the Uruguayans knew it; Cardozo’s tearful reaction to the concession confirming as much.
As the realisation of their impending exit started to dawn and weigh heavily on Coito’s boys, Nigeria withdrew Alfa, Iheanacho and finally Awoniyi late on as their collective attention switched to the midweek semi-final with Roland Larsson’s Sweden.
Nigeria: Dele Alampasu, Musa Muhammed (Captain), Samuel Okon, Akinjide Idowu, Aliyu Abubakar, Abdullahi Alfa (Saviour Godwin 83), Kelechi Iheanacho (Chidera Ezeh 90), Musa Yahaya, Chidiebere Nwakali, Taiwo Awoniyi (Baba Salihu 90), Zaharaddeen Bello. Substitutes: Denis Nya, Habib Makanjuola, Chigozi Obasi, Raymond Japhet, Abdulazeez Abubakar, Francis Uzoho, Isaac Success. Coach: Manu Garba.
Uruguay: Thiago Cardozo, Joel Bregonis, Fabrizio Buschiazzo (Captain), Franco Pizzichillo, Kevin Mendez, Franco Acosta, Enrique Etcheverry, Gaston Faber (Facundo Ospitaleche 69), Leandro Otormin (Gonzalo Latorre 58), Marcio Benitez (Francis D Albenas 80), Mathias Suarez. Substitutes: Darwin Avila, Aldo Martilotta, Facundo Silva, Jhon Pintos, Elias Gonzalez, Emmanual Gonzalez, Kevin Larrea. Coach: Fabian Coito.
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