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Page last updated at 22:37 GMT, Saturday, 24 October 2009 23:37 UK

Nigeria hold Germany in thriller

By Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Sport, Nigeria

The stadium in Lagos for the Under-17 World Cup
Lagos hosted Saturday's opening matches at the Under-17 World Cup

Hosts and defending champions Nigeria completed a remarkable comeback to hold European champions Germany to a 3-3 draw in their opening match of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup.

Germany took a deserved lead in the 22nd minute as Lennart Thy powered home a header to silence the home crowd.

They doubled their lead sixteen minutes later when Shkodran Mustafi found himself free on the right to slam home a cross in the Nigerian box.

Both teams returned into the second half with purpose but it was the Germans who compounded the hosts' woes when Mario Goetze made it 3-0 in the 47th minute.

The turnaround began for the defending champions in the 53rd minute when Robert Labus harshly halted Omoh Ojabu in the area, conceding a penalty and receiving his marching orders for the professional foul.

It marked a remarkable fight-back as the Golden Eaglets scored three times in a spate of seven second-half minutes against the ten-man European champions to salvage a point when all seemed well and truly lost.

Stanley Okoro scored from the resulting penalty kick in the 54th minute while Kenneth Omeruo left his marker stranded to power home a header five minutes later.

And substitute Edafe Egbedi volleyed home a deflected shot in the 61st minute from close range.

Both sides had a late chances to win the game but Terry Envoh hit the crossbar for Nigeria while Thy struck the upright late in the game.

Argentina now lead Group A after beating Honduras 1-0 earlier in the day.

In Group B on Saturday Switzerland beat Mexico 2-0 and Brazil edged out Japan 3-2.



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see also
Nigeria ready for U17 World Cup
23 Oct 09 |  African
Yar'Adua backs U17 World Cup
20 Oct 09 |  African
Fifa to use wrist-scan age tests
23 Oct 09 |  Internationals
Nigeria name under-17 squad
16 Oct 09 |  African
UAE slams Nigeria facilities
25 Sep 09 |  African
Fifa happy with Nigeria progress
07 Aug 09 |  African
Nigeria U-17 given Fifa approval
14 Jun 09 |  African
Nigeria U-17 World Cup in doubt
22 Oct 08 |  African


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