Nigeria inch closer to Beach Soccer World Cup

Nigeria has progressed to the semi-finals of the ongoing FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Durban, South Africa following a hard-earned 6-5 victory over Egypt in an explosive encounter, albeit not devoid of controversy, on Friday.

The presiding match officials had to make a couple of big decisions as both sides struggled to gain a meaningful advantage over the other, but none came bigger than when one of the officials, Nuwer Kumar, signalled a goal in favour of the Nigerian team less than a minute from the end, with the scores tied at 5-5.

Video replays however revealed that Egyptian keeper Mohamed Issa had prevented the ball from crossing his goal line and the decision was subsequently reversed by the third referee, Mohammed Ibrahim much to the dismay of the legion of Nigerian supporters at the match venue.

The game then proceded to extra time, and with less than 90 seconds to go before the inevitable penalty shootout, Ogbonna Okemiri, who scored two of Nigeria's goals in their 13-0 whitewash of Mauritius on Wednesday, slipped the ball into the Egyptian net to seal a Nigerian victory and a ticket to the semi-finals while consigning the Egyptians to the agony of waiting for results from the other groups to know if they can qualify for the last-four as the best-placed second team in their log.

At the start of the game however it appeared like the Egyptians were going to carry the day after they shot into a 1-0 lead but Bartholomew Ibenegbu equalized for the Beach Eagles before Olatubosun Idowu shot Nigeria ahead in the second period.

The Egyptians then restored parity with the Beach Eagles but Isiaka Olawale, who scored six of Nigeria's 13 goals against Mauritius, restored Nigeria's lead three minutes later.

But it became 3-3 soon after the commencement of the third period, and four minutes later the Egyptians regained the lead but only for a minute before Tale pulled Nigeria back on level terms again. Two minutes later Garba Baba Yahaya made it 5-4 for Nigeria before the Egyptians equalized for the final time in the game only for Okemiri to leave them heartbroken with his third goal of the tournament.

Nigeria will now come up on Saturday against Senegal who defeated Mozambique 3-2 after extra time also on Friday. And a win in that game over the Senegalese will ensure qualification for the 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup which comes up later this month in the United Arab Emirates.