A former Nigerian international and FIFA under 17 World cup winner; Nduka Ugbade has tipped Dynamo Kiyiv’s Brown Ideye and CSKA Moscow’s Ahmed Musa to score the winner for Super Eagles side that will be facing the Harambee Stars of Kenya on June the 5th.
An advise he churned out to Super eagles coach Stephen Keshi ahead of the preparation of the winner takes all clash which will be played in Nairobi the capital of Kenya.it would be recalled that Nigeria hosted Kenya in UJ Esuene stadium in Calabar on March the 23rd, the game ended with an unexpected 1-1 draw as the Super Eagles of Nigeria were tipped to be favourites ahead of the first leg tie.
The Harambee Stars of Kenya will be the pressured side when they host the Super Eagles as they presently at the bottom of the Group F with two points to their credit while Nigeria with five points being shared with Malawi occupies the top spot on the table followed by Malawi then Namibia with three points.
The former Nigerian international said he believes the Super Eagles possess a strong mix in Ideye and Musa combination as it will frustrate the physical play of the Kenyans, whose game plan earned the point shared between them and Nigeria in the surprise 1-1 draw of the first leg.
Nduka Ugbade started out young as a youth player; fresh out from college in Lagos, he captained Nigeria’s U-16 male soccer team that won the 1985 Kodak/FIFA Football World Cup in the U-16 category in China.
That tournament earned Ugbade prominence after Nigeria recorded Africa’s first major win in football on the global stage.
Ugbade was also part of the Under-20 national football team four years later at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship where Nigeria ended at the second place at the FIFA U-20 Football World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Nigeria lost to Portugal in the final match, but Ugbade and his team mates were the toast of the spectators after posting spectacular wins over hosts Saudi Arabia, highly favoured United States, and the USSR against which the Nigerian team recovered from a 4-0 deficit to level 4-4 with Ugbade scoring the fourth and the country winning on penalties. This win is fondly referred to in Nigerian football history as the “Damman Miracle”.
After his immensely successful youth football career, Ugbade featured in the Nigerian national team for some years, but was plagued by injuries and poor form in the later years of his career which denied him of the opportunity of staring at the 1994 World Cup.