After the opening festivities,including a one-minute silence in honour of the departed Nigeria legend Rashidi Yekini, both sides quickly got down to business.
A string of fine saves by the Namibian keeper Virgil Vries ensured that an entertaining first half ended scoreless.The Eagles started the match on a promising note but met with resistance from the determined Namibian side,packing the backline with all its players each time the Eagles made inclusions into the vital area.
Enugu Rangers winger,Ejike Uzoenyi was particularly impressive in the first half with his pace and penetration.He was also unfortunate not to hit the target when his spectacular overhead kick was saved by Vries.
The combination of Wigan Athletic's winger,Victor Moses,John Utaka and Ikechukwu Uche proved quite a hand-full for the hard-tackling defenseline of the Namibians that later sucumbed to pressure at the last minutes of the explosive encounter.
But with time running out for the West African,Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi introduced CSKA Moscow's Ahmed,who came in to replace John Utaka and Enyimba of Aba' s Kalu Uche coming in for victor Moses,adding the needed pep to the Eagles attack.
With the goals not coming,the hosts increasingly grew frustrated and lost their way somewhat while their opponents grew in belief. Fans at the stadium then started singing for a goal from their team.
"All we are saying... give us one goal" they chanted. Five minutes later they got the break.
In the 80th minute, Ejike Uzoenyi of Rangers International,who was a thorn in the flesh of the Namibians delivered a cross from the left flank,flicked by Kalu Uche,and converted by Ikechukwu Uche to give the Keshi led technical crew a relieve.
However,on Saturday other teams in the group,Malawi and Kenya struggled to a goaless draw in Nairobi,giving Nigeria the advantage with 3 points in their kitty.
The Super Eagles travels away to Blantyre,Malawi,June 9 to keep a date with the Eastern African country in the second match of the qualifiers.
Ikechukwu Uche was rewarded with the man-of-the-match award and a prize of $5,000.00USD for his efforts on the day.
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