World Cup qual - Nigeria down sorry France

Eurosport - Wed, 03 Jun 06:58:00 2009

Nigeria beat France 1-0 in an international friendly in St Etienne to heap pressure on Les Bleus coach Raymond Domenech.

FOOTBALL Nigeria celebrate their winner against France - 0

Brugge striker Joseph Akpala scored the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute after Ikechukwu Uche's shot had come off the bar and hit French goalkeeper Steve Mandanda on the heel.

The crowd reacted furiously and started jeering and booing the French players, which contained captain Patrick Vieira and Chelsea's Florent Malouda after a spell in the international wilderness.

Neither player shone with Vieira especially static in midfield during a sad 107th appearance for the former Arsenal star.

The hosts failed to rouse their supporters and it took them an hour to even summon up a chorus of 'Allez les Bleus' (Come on the Blues), with only Franck Ribery and Nicolas Anelka showing glimpses of form.

Debutant Loic Remy went closest to levelling the match when the Nice striker's shot hit the post two minutes from the end.

Domenech was never going to be warmly received in St Etienne as he used to play for their bitter historical rivals Lyon.

Indeed when their names were announced over the public address system Domenech and present and past players of Lyon were greeted with jeers and boos from the spectators - and interest in the national side has slid so much that the ground was only two-thirds full.

However, there was a better sense of decorum as the crowd fell silent for a minute's silence out of respect for the 228 passengers and crew of the Air France flight that disappeared on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on Monday.

France play a second friendly against Euro 2008 semi-finalists Turkey on Friday.

AFP

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  1. WE WILL ANAHILATE sa if not i'm gonna flip

    From michael o, on Thu 4 Jun 11:25AM

  2. Why does France have an 80% 'delicious­ chocolate' flavoured team for the last 10 years or­ so - When the rest of the European national teams have­ a far higher level of not so tasty white - like­ Germany, Italy or Spain who struggle to find one. Do­ White French boys not play football ? Surely France is­ ethically diverse, but there must still be a strangely­ high amount of poor quality football for there to be­ such low support from the ethnic majority of the­ populace of our Gaul'ish / Norman friends ?

    From alex, on Wed 3 Jun 9:31AM

  3. Good GOD, we are back where we belong.TOP

    From gboyega o, on Wed 3 Jun 9:09AM

  4. Sack Domenech, players don't like him and he is a­ @#$% coach too!!!!!!

    From Laurent B, on Wed 3 Jun 9:08AM

  5. Nigeria has shown that after all the odds,they can­ still stand up to the challenge when needed.Up super­ Eagles

    From Chris, on Wed 3 Jun 8:39AM

  6. Nigeria deserves to win that match, the result is as a­ result of the run of play, and it is a very good news­ ahead of Saturday's south africa 2010 qualifying­ match against Kenya. i predict we are going to beat­ kenya by three goals to nothing. A brace from IK Uche­ and the third from Akpala. Up Super Eagles!!!

    From wumi2k4love, on Wed 3 Jun 8:37AM
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