Football: Nigeria bounce back against North Korea

Nigeria's Saviour Godwin celebrates after scoring against North Korea. Photo / AP

Nigeria bounced back in the big way today at the Under-20 World Cup, with an emphatic 4-0 win over North Korea.

After their first up loss to Brazil last Monday, the Flying Eagles were under some pressure ahead of this match.

That was compounded by a scoreless first half, before striker Saviour Goodwin struck in the 48th and 51st minutes. From there the shackles were off and the Africans cantered to victory.

North Korea played some good football - and again were perhaps unfortunate to be on the end of a heavy scoreline - but the Nigerians were simply irresistible. Their squad includes eleven players from their triumphant 2013 Under-17 World Cup team and the cohesion is evident, with some breathtaking passing and movement. And this wasn't even their full strength team.

Nigerian coach Manu Garba, who earlier in the tournament compared his team's style to Bayern Munich and the Netherlands teams of the 1970, left four of his best players on the bench.

Manchester City duo Musa Yahaya and Kelechi Iheanacho, along with Success Issac (Granada CF) and Musa Yahaya (Tottenham Hotspur FC), were all omitted for "tactical reasons", with Garba wanting to rest the quartet ahead of Sunday's vital match with Hungary.

It was a gamble, but didn't seem to affect the Flying Eagles early on; captain Musa Muhammed set the tone in the third minute, unleashing a spectacular 35 metre angled drive that hit the inside of the left hand post and bounced away.

For the first thirty minutes the pattern was similar; Nigeria dominant, forcing plenty of good saves from Jong Hun Cha in the North Korean goal. Hun Cha had had a poor game against Hungary but made amends in the first half, with one double save particularly eye-catching.

The Africans were often guilty of over complicated play in the final third while North Korean captain Kuk Chol Kim made some important interceptions.

North Korea enjoyed their best spell in the 15 minutes before half-time, engineering some attempts on goal as the Nigerian machine began to falter.

However, the complexion of the match changed completely early in the second half, with Goodwin's two goals within the space of three minutes. That brace broke the North Koreans' spirit and Nigeria added further goals to Kingsley Sokari (71st minute) and Issac (80th minute). Sokari's was particularly special, a thunderous shot from well outside the area.

Nigeria 4 (S Goodwin, 48, 51, K Sokari 71, S Issac 80)
North Korea 0
Halftime: 0-0